


puppies within vicinity

by clubsushi



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Fluff, M/M, Slow Burn, at least someone said it was slow burn hehe, cute puppies !!! lots of cute puppies !!, dog dads luwoo uwu, ngl there will be /some/ drama, public transport crushes, tag says fluff but fic will also deal with college student struggles !!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-05-16 01:30:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 41,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14801795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clubsushi/pseuds/clubsushi
Summary: Airpods Guy is always just within vicinity, and Jungwoo didn't think he'd have to ask for his name just to know who he is when they basically see each other in subway rides more often than not. It's been like that for nearly two semesters already, but maybe a puppy can change that.





	1. start

The guy who blasts Justin Bieber way too loud in his Airpods and occasionally picks his nose in his morning commute was just another face to Kim Jungwoo.

 

It wasn’t just during subway rides to his eight a.m. class every Tuesday and Thursday, sometimes Jungwoo sees him on the ride back home too, way too often that it’s almost as if their schedules aligned just so they would meet each other at the train several times a week for nearly two semesters already. Jungwoo saw him in university grounds too, only a couple of times that he could count those instances in one hand, twice at Starbucks, twice jogging in the university park, and once at the library. Jungwoo doesn’t know why such information is stored in his brain, he reckons _Airpods Guy_ isn’t exactly hard to miss. His hair is dyed in some sort of shade in between blond and brown, and the bright locks are stark amongst the sea of heads during rush hour with how much of a giant he seems to be.

 

Jungwoo wouldn’t admit it but sometimes his eyes would hover over Airpods Guy’s face, how his face scrunches up when he’s scrolling through memes, or mouthing lyrics to whatever song he was listening to. Sometimes Jungwoo gets caught that he would quickly break eye contact and pretend to be doing something else because there really is no reason for him to look. Jungwoo was just bored perhaps—he’s saving his phone’s battery, he left his earphones at home, he caught Airpods Guy picking his nose yet again—anything but admitting that maybe Airpods Guy is _kinda_ cute.

 

One time Airpods Guy smiled at him and Jungwoo swore something in him _cracked,_ and he supposed it was purely only out of embarrassment.

 

“You were staring? That’s weird, hyung.” Jisung, his next-door neighbor whose parents were making him tutor pointed out. Jungwoo was supposed to be helping him with his homework, but instead he ended up blabbing about his commute back home that day.

 

“I wasn’t staring. I was bored and he was there. There’s a difference.” Jungwoo defended himself. Jisung didn’t seem to be buying it.

 

“When did you even realize that you liked this Airpods Guy?” Jisung said as he closed the book, _homework be damned, hyung’s crush is more interesting._ “When you caught him picking his nose for the nth time?”

 

“That was only five or so times, he doesn't even pick his nose much anymore, and I never said I liked him!”

 

“But you said you guys made eye contact, and then he smiled at you… all while hiding a squeal, hyung.”

 

Jungwoo could only laugh, one tiny _hehe_ before taking the book in front of Jisung and opening it once again, “Very funny, Jisungie. Which page did you say your homework was again?”

 

They talk too, sometimes—about the weather (of all things). _Small talk at its finest._

 

“The weather is nice today.” Airpods Guy said, looking outside the window. The train is indeed zooming past at a rapid pace that the dark tunnel walls form streaks in their vision. _Oh right,_ they’re in a subway.

 

“I agree. The sun is nice.” Jungwoo nodded as he spoke. It was in fact, raining that one Tuesday morning.

 

Sometimes it’s whatever funny joke Airpods Guy sees in his phone that he just had to share it to anyone sitting beside him (i.e. Jungwoo). Once he was cackling so hard at whatever he was looking at his phone, and before Jungwoo could even begin to think about whatever he’s laughing so hard for, there was a screen right before his eyes showing a photo of a rat.

 

_A rat._

 

“It says _‘Rat is short for Ratthew.’_ ” Airpods Guy explained.

 

“What?”

 

“Ratthew.”

 

“...Ratthew?”

 

“What?”

 

“Eh?”

 

“Ratthew!”

 

 _Ratthew._ Jungwoo considered calling him Ratthew instead of Airpods Guy in his mind for a few days until he realized how weird that was. _Who would even want to be nicknamed Ratthew anyway?_

 

They talk about a lot of stuff, while not talking much, really. One time Jungwoo was scrolling through his Instagram feed which is 50% puppies, and 50% everything else, and he couldn’t help but coo at the fluffy white ball as he double-tapped at it repeatedly, the heart appearing and disappearing on the post.

 

“Cute,” Jungwoo heard someone say, he took his eyes off the screen only to see that Airpods guy was staring directly at Jungwoo, and—“The puppy is cute.” Airpods Guy continued. _Oh. Of course, the puppy._

 

“I like puppies,” Jungwoo nodded, “Puppies are cute.”

 

“I know right.” Airpods Guy said, with the goofiest smile on his face while still looking at Jungwoo.

 

Perhaps, Jungwoo _melted._

 

Besides the weather, memes, and puppies, etc. Airpods Guy helps Jungwoo when he sees him stuck at a game and 99.9% of the time, he knows how to figure it out.

 

“The missing number is on the fridge.” Airpods Guy told him after noticing his predicament. Jungwoo had been making his dog avatar fart around and bark all over as a sorry excuse as to why he wasn’t making any progress with finding out what the computer’s password is. _How could the dog even use the computer in the first place? He has paws!_

 

“Thanks.” Jungwoo said, making the dog walk to the kitchen. There is indeed, a number 7 pasted on a yellow sticky note on the refrigerator door.

 

“I played that game a lot. I already went through all the endings.”

 

“I only got one ending,” Jungwoo didn’t mean to pout, but he did, “The cute dog killed me.”

 

“Cute,” _What._ Airpods Guy let out a small laugh, “You thought it was just a cute game too, right?”

 

 _Right, of course. The cute dog._ Jungwoo could only nod and go _hehe_ as he pressed Bark, the dogs gathered around a big bowl of food. It really was a cute game if it wasn’t so deceivingly morbid.

 

“I spent a lot of time playing that game when I’m bored since I live alone.”

 

Jungwoo doesn’t exactly know what to respond to that, so he settled with, “I live with my family.”

 

“Well my family lives overseas so…” Airpods Guy shrugged.

 

Jungwoo wished at that moment, that he could hold a normal conversation with Airpods Guy. It wasn’t like the guy would bite him if he would say anything more than a single sentence (not that Jungwoo wished that he does either, that’s just weird). So Jungwoo continued to play the game, pressing the Fart button and letting the bugs have his dog, the tiny beeping sound from the game drowned out what could barely even be considered a conversation.

 

Jungwoo had thought then, that that was enough talking they had that day. It wasn’t long before it was already his stop, and it was almost like a routine already every time he has to get off, he’d nod goodbye to Airpods Guy then he’d walk out of the subway doors without looking back. Except that time, Jungwoo felt a heavy hand tap on his shoulder—and it was Airpods Guy.

 

“Hey, you dropped this.” He said, holding Jungwoo’s plastic envelope.

 

“Thank you.” Jungwoo took the envelope in his hand and smiled to show his gratitude. It should have ended there, but just when Jungwoo was ready to turn his back and start walking, he heard Airpods Guy say something under his breath.

 

_“Cute.”_

 

_Fuck._

 

Jungwoo has never nodded and waved goodbye at anyone as fast as he had that time. There was no cute puppy anymore. There is nothing cute about a plastic envelope filled with handouts and his midterm test papers. What else could Airpods Guy be calling cute but… _him?_

 

Jungwoo felt the blood crawl up to his face, maybe his cheeks were burning. Jungwoo wouldn’t know, he was too busy striding out of the subway car trying to convince himself that there was no reason for Airpods Guy to call him cute. Maybe he remembered something cute and _not_ Jungwoo, _who knows._

 

Jungwoo didn’t know that would be the last time he’d see Airpods Guy in awhile.


	2. Chapter 2

Sometimes Jungwoo sees Airpods guy at the station after school. He sees him on his phone most of the time, on other days he’d trade them in with printouts of whatever he needed to study that day as he waits for the train to arrive. Airpods always plugged in his ears even when Jungwoo could tell there was no music playing. It’s always the same scene and yet Jungwoo can’t help but still look. Jungwoo would look away after a few seconds— _he always does—_ then pretend he didn’t see him first when Airpods Guy takes notice of Jungwoo and either wave or smile at him as a greeting.

 

Most of the time, they’d see each other at the bus stop at the university. Too much really that Jungwoo’s excluded those times from the short list of moments he’s seen Airpods Guy around the campus. They’d enter the bus together, walk to the station together, and although unlikely, check to see if there are any vacant seats. And every station the train stops at and someone goes, Airpods Guy would be first to redirect Jungwoo to an empty seat (usually beside him). Jungwoo would do the same too sometimes. It’s his way of returning the favor (not that he just wanted Airpods Guy to seat next to him). If they’re riding back home, Jungwoo would offer his seat when it’s his stop already since he gets off first.

 

Whatever _friendship_ they’ve formed in between mundane everyday things in between 20 minute subway rides and barely even 10 minute bus rides to school shouldn’t even mean to Jungwoo that much because there are a couple of familiar faces he passes by much like Airpods Guy. Yet everyone elses are blurry faces except for his. It’s _something,_ but isn’t much either. The guy with the deepest voice he has ever heard in his life and eyes full of expression was just another face to Kim Jungwoo.

 

They just so happen to share the same commuting hours. Jungwoo still has deadlines to meet. He still has Park Jisung to tutor in the evening. He still has classmates he’d have to remind every single day to do their part in whatever group work they have to do together. Finals are just around the corner and the workload the professors give him pile up that there is barely any room to breathe.

 

It’s only when Jisung started pestering him to ask for updates about Airpods Guy, that he realizes he’s been out of sight for two weeks already.

 

It’s only then that he’s noticed how he’s accidentally fallen asleep in the subway once and missed his station because there was no one who woke him up. There was no one he’d occasionally steal glances at whenever he’s scrolling on his phone or reading handouts. And Jungwoo is still stuck at his game because he doesn’t know where to find the cage’s key, and he refuses to look game plays up online since that is cheating. The game isn’t even that hard to figure out anyway—Jungwoo just _sucks._  The dog’s gonna have to stay locked up until Airpods Guy decides to show up and help him.

 

And yet he doesn’t show up even a week later after that. It bothered Jungwoo to a point that he’s decided that he can’t keep it in anymore, and he just had to tell someone, particularly Jisung, about it because none of his college friends even know about his silly _not_ crush with some random guy he sees in public transport. The curiosity as to why he’s suddenly disappeared eats away Jungwoo’s mind that he just had to share his worries. It didn’t even matter that Jisung has his school friend Chenle (who apparently needed help with Social Studies) over during their tutoring session.

 

(“But Jisungie, Social Studies was my weak subject too. How am I going to help with that?”

 

“I’ll help him with Social Studies, and you help me with everything else.”

 

“Then why are you asking me to help?”

 

“I’m not. I’m just saying we need to do more studying and less talking about you and Airpods Guy.

 

“Oy, Park Jisung!”)

 

Yet Jungwoo still does talk about Airpods Guy, and both Jisung and Chenle dropped their school work to listen— _homework be damned._ It’s no surprise considering it was always Jisung who would find a way for Jungwoo to stop helping him study and start talking about the most random of things.

 

“So hyung, what you’re trying to say is that you miss him.” Jisung says, in conclusion right after Jungwoo ends his soft rant.

 

Jungwoo can’t help but hiss, “No, all I’m saying is it’s kinda boring without having anyone to talk to during the commute.”

 

“You said you guys don’t even talk that much and yet—!” Chenle stops midway, failing to contain his laughter. “Jisung-ah, I like this hyung. He’s funny.”

 

“Hey!”

 

“It’s like you guys have been low key flirting for how many months now… nine months? Just get his number the next time you see him, hyung. It’s that easy.” Jisung points out. Chenle nods, and claps, standing in ovation as if Jisung figuring out the answer to Jungwoo’s dilemma deserves a Nobel Prize. _Kids these days._

 

“If you’re so smart then why do your parents still need me to tutor you,” Jungwoo narrows his eyes, “And why would I need his number?”

 

“Weren’t you just talking about him with us because you haven’t seen him in weeks and you miss him?” Jisung shrugs. Chenle nods in agreement, “Some points were made.” he says, still clapping. Jungwoo contemplates if the only reason Jisung brought him over was because he needed a personal hype man whenever he roasts Jungwoo.

 

Jisung says, “If you have his number you can just text him to go out on a date.”

 

“I don’t want to date him!” Jungwoo convinces, more to himself if he were to be honest. “I told you it’s just because I’m curious why he suddenly disappeared.”

 

“This hyung is really funny!” Jungwoo wonders when he’ll run out of breath and stop laughing at his misery.

 

Jungwoo can only pout, “I’m gonna start charging you too for my tutoring services.”

 

“Imagine if you never see him again you’d be stuck with only calling him Airpods Guy whenever you remember him because for nine months, you couldn’t ask for even just his name… Tragic.” Jisung says, and it does sound _pathetic_ if he puts it like that. Chenle still hasn’t stopped cackling and Jungwoo is wallowing in his own misery with every passing second.

 

Jungwoo’s hope to see Airpods Guy again is even lower than the probability of Jisung picking up his Mathematics workbook to resume working on his homework on page 142. Even worse, his group mates who are suddenly offline the moment Jungwoo messaged are more likely to reply and actually do their part for the presentation they were working on. They still have a long way to go and really, Jungwoo should have just listened to Jisung when he said _“more studying and less talking about you and Airpods Guy”_

 

Maybe Jungwoo deserves a trophy for playing himself. Now he has to multitask by helping two high school kids with their homework, carry the whole group on his back, while trying hard not to type something dumb like airpods on the shared Google Slides.

 

Jungwoo gives up, picks up the books both boys closed to listen to him and slides it over to their side of the table, “Can you go back to being that shy boy who hides in his room whenever your parents invite us in for dinner?”

 

“Hyung, just get his number the next time you see him then thank us later.”

 

The thing is that it really is uncertain when Jungwoo would see Airpods Guy the next time. Jungwoo hopes it would be tomorrow, but that would be too much for him to ask.

 

(Besides, it isn’t as if Jungwoo actually _misses_ him. He is just bored and curious. There really isn’t much to think about when his daily commute lasts for nearly two hours, and Airpods Guy at least made a fraction of that time more bearable.)

 

***

 

Airpods Guy really did make thirty minutes or so of his daily commute more bearable. Maybe even more than _just_ bearable in several instances. Perhaps, they were closer than Jungwoo lets on, or maybe it was the inerasable pout, stoic expression, and glassy eyes that gave it away and made Airpods Guy go out of his way to cheer up some random guy he often sees at the train.

 

It was in the middle of Fall Semester when it first happened. The days were getting colder, and Jungwoo had both hands snug tight in his pocket, eyes staring straight outside the window where the view is just the dark wall of the tunnel. Jungwoo really did look like the personified Sadness, and his baby blue knit pullover only solidified his look (if Sadness _had_ pockets). Maybe it was just the weather, but Jungwoo knew it himself that it is not.

 

Jungwoo was there, but his head was not quite present. That was why he didn’t even bother to hold onto anything when the train was about to stop at a station, which caused him to stumble in the slightest. Even when he’d managed to regain his balance, his brain is still floating elsewhere. Just when the train resumed moving, there was a hand on the side of Jungwoo’s shoulder, preventing him from losing his balance yet again. When Jungwoo looks to the side—It was Airpods Guy, wireless headphones stuck in his ears ever as always, almost as if they were glued on his skin.

 

“Are you okay…” Airpods Guy dragged out. _Oh right,_ they don’t know each other’s names. “...man?”

 

Jungwoo wanted to laugh, but he couldn’t because the saline liquid collecting below his eyelids were on the verge of spilling. So he just said, “Yeah, I just stumbled.”

 

“No,” Airpods Guy shook his head. “I mean, are _you_ okay?”

 

_Oh._

 

“Just a bad day.” Jungwoo said, he put his lips in a tight line as he nodded. A few bad weeks, maybe, but bad is an understatement though that isn’t really something Jungwoo should divulge with a stranger he didn’t meet online.

 

Airpods Guy went back to his phone, Jungwoo had thought he would leave it at that, but then after a few seconds he reached his hand out and offered Jungwoo the other half of his Airpods as a silent invitation. Jungwoo raised an eyebrow questionably at that, but there really is no harm if he took it, so he did.

 

Jungwoo didn’t know how to react when the song that played was something that he only knew because it was one of his mother’s favorites. It brought him back to when she would forcibly play it in their car, cutting off his sister’s Bluetooth connection with the speaker just so she could play her songs—It’s Michael Bolton’s How Am I Supposed To Live Without you.

 

_I could hardly believe it_

_When I heard the news today_

 

And it was so tragically comedic, because _it was so fitting of his situation,_ that it unironically hurt his heart. Jungwoo couldn’t tell if he should laugh or tear up—so he did both.

 

The panic in Airpods Guy’s face was evident when Jungwoo started cry laughing, he had no idea how to savage the situation, it had seemed like he winged it when he started dancing.

 

 _“Tell me how am I supposed to live without you~”_ Airpods Guy lip synced, wild gestures all over the train causing some to cast questionable looks. He didn’t seem fazed at all with the attention. _“Now that I've been lovin' you so long.”_

 

It was ridiculous, but Jungwoo wasn’t in his right mind to not laugh and watch Airpods Guy clown himself all just to comfort a total stranger like him. Jungwoo has never met anyone who would willingly do that, and never had he imagined he would be both crying and laughing over a Michael Bolton song with someone he didn’t even know.

 

Jungwoo saw Airpods Guy again at the commute back home the next day.

 

He had only asked Jungwoo if he was feeling better, when he had seen him at the university’s bus stop. Jungwoo could only nod, maybe he did feel a tad bit better. The rest of the ride had been silent but when it was already Jungwoo’s station, Airpods Guy handed him a box of Pepero—The same double dip Peperos he got in big bulk box from Jisung’s snack stash that Mrs. Park’s decided that Jungwoo was more deserving of than her own son, and he’d been snacking on those during the ride he’d sometimes share them with Airpods Guy himself.

 

Airpods Guy raised a fist, and said—maybe a more like a shout, _“Fighting Haeyadwae!”_

 

A grandma hissed at them, and along with the glares, Airpods Guy had to send apologies to everyone who were around them. When the train doors opened, he faked escorting Jungwoo out of the carriage and bowed to him right after. Jungwoo could only snicker at that. A few steps out the train, he looked back. Airpods Guy was waving at him with the goofiest smile on his face before the train went off, and Jungwoo was stuck staring at the platform screen doors closing back in. Everyone else around him go about their own destinations and yet his mind is still in the train that’s left his body on the platform with a box of Pepero.

 

Jungwoo truly, has never met anyone quite like him.

 


	3. Chapter 3

It is a Tuesday morning, Jungwoo’s barely had any sleep and his back hurts from being in the same position all night though he’d like to believe it is the physical effect of him metaphorically carrying the whole group on his back just so they’d be done with the presentation they have to do today.

 

Jungwoo really should stop letting things like this happen, but it wasn’t like he could blame himself for being stuck with group mates who just don’t care. It isn’t like they’re going to be let off the hook after this, Jungwoo would ask Dong Sicheng, the other member who actually bothered to stay up and help, what’ll happen to the rest of the group who has done nothing but send links about the topic they could’ve easily just looked up themselves as if that was of any substantial help.

 

Jungwoo would have to think about it later. Right now, he has to go. The sun’s just risen when he gets out of the house and walks to the bus stop. It’s the same route every day that Jungwoo’s feet has already memorized where to take the rest of his body that he can manage to have only half of his mind awake throughout the commute. Take the bus. Get off the bus. Go down the subway station. Ten stops. Climb up and out of the station and wait for the bus that would take him to the bus stop just in front of his college building.

 

Still no sight of Airpods Guy.

 

With that thought, Jungwoo sighs, the bus won’t be here in a couple of minutes, so he decides to make use of his time by checking his phone. There’s a message from his class group chat.

 

_Good morning! Sorry for the short notice but Mr. Park has decided to cancel today’s meeting because he is not feeling well. Presentations will be moved to the next meeting. Thank you!_

 

***

 

 **Doyoungie-hyung** **♡**

_Have u had breakfast? Coffee? I’ll go with u. I don’t have classes until the afternoon anyway._

 

Kim Doyoung is an actual angel. It hasn’t even been five minutes since Jungwoo sat down on an empty bench just so he could tweet his frustration when Doyoung messaged him just before he could break down after thinking about how much he’s tried to stay awake to finish the damn presentation, reach out to group mates who were clearly not going to help out, and wake up to get ready for school just because he’s accidentally fallen asleep for twenty minutes after finalizing everything.

 

They go to a nearby dog cafe called _Neopups,_ it’s like any normal cafe except there are dogs, and they don’t have seats, just low tables and small partitions between each table where there are pillows and blankets in place of actual chairs. There is nowhere better to de-stress about wasted time and effort than to spend sitting cross-legged on the floor, cute dog on his lap and a clubhouse sandwich (while Doyoung works on whatever he was doing on his laptop). Also, because Lee Taeyong’s family owns the place, and they’re very much welcome to overstay with no shame, and Jungwoo could drown in dogs to his heart’s content.

 

That’s why stress from class presentation aside, Airpods Guy passes by Jungwoo’s mind as the store plays a Justin Bieber song and decides to stay there. It’s then Jungwoo remembers AIrpods Guy has been out of sight for nearly a month, and no matter how hard he walks at the platform before the train arrives and gloss his eyes over countless commuters, there is not a single trace of him in the crowd. If Airpods Guy had been around, it wouldn’t be that hard to miss him.

 

Maybe Jungwoo misses small talks and the occasional earphone sharing. Maybe he misses getting help, so he could move forward with whatever game he was playing and laughing at memes together. Maybe he misses saving seats and playing along to whatever game Airpods Guy had in mind. There are more, now that Jungwoo thinks of it, all such tiny things that could easily be negligible. Even after spilling it all to high school kids who he’d thought wouldn’t roast him as much as they had, his _curiosity_ is still infiltrating his mind. It still bothers Jungwoo so much that he slips and Doyoung pauses midway typing on his keyboard just to entertain the silly question.

 

Jungwoo shouldn't miss Airpods Guy that much, he should just be curious. And yet he still, maybe, _does._

 

“Is it creepy to miss someone you don’t know?”

 

Doyoung cocks his head to the side, seemingly pondering on the thought, “Someone who doesn’t know you, or someone you don’t know?”

 

“Well, both?” Jungwoo fakes nonchalance, adding in a shrug as he strokes Ruby’s fur.

 

“Who are you missing?”

 

“I’m not missing anyone,” Jungwoo clarifies, “I was just wondering.”

 

“It’s creepy,” Doyoung says, not even a sliver of hesitance in his statement. _“You’re creepy.”_

 

“I said I wasn’t missing anyone!” Ruby who was snug on his lap, shifts and Jungwoo scratches a spot on her back causing her leg to kick back in reflex. Jungwoo smiles to himself, “If anything, you’re the one I’m missing.”

 

“I missed you too..?”

 

“I was talking to Ruby but I guess I missed you too, hyung.”

 

“Jungwoo!” Doyoung whines, resuming his work on the laptop. “Also, you don’t have anymore classes today?”

 

“No I don’t, but I don’t want to go home yet,” Jungwoo flips Ruby over, perfectly nestling herself like a baby as he lies down in between his legs. “It’s such a waste if my travel time takes longer than the time I’m in here. Remind me to leave by ten, I guess.”

 

“Okay,” Doyoung nods, “But don’t you think it’s time for you to go back to the dorms or go apartment hunting?”

 

“I think so too but…” Jungwoo looks down, focusing on giving Ruby a belly rub rather than answering the question.

 

“But what? Have you asked your parents again?” Doyoung asks. Jungwoo shakes his head, they won’t object really since it isn’t like he hasn’t done that since he did use to stay at the dorms for a semester last freshman year so it isn’t rejection that’s stopping him.

 

“My sister said I should ask but…” Jungwoo drags, his mother’s been nagging him too to just go move back near the university ever since she’s noticed how much tired Jungwoo seems to be whenever he’s home. There really is no concrete reason why he shouldn’t. Jungwoo could only shrug, “I don’t know.”

 

“Morning Jungwoo!” It’s Lee Taeyong heading to their table, and it takes Jungwoo a few seconds to notice that he has a tiny fur ball wrapped up in his arms.

 

The cutest tiny fur ball Jungwoo has ever seen in his life.

 

Ruby jumps out of Jungwoo’s lap the moment she’s taken notice of Taeyong’s arrival, and so have the other dogs in the cafe as if they are welcoming their supreme leader, Lee Taeyong. The scene reminds Jungwoo so much of Gru and his minions, and the dark zip jacket and striped scarf he has on even when it’s nearly summer isn’t helping.

 

“Why are you here?” Taeyong says as a greeting as soon as he’s in front of their table, directing the question only to Doyoung.

  
“Hey! I’m here as a customer.” Doyoung retaliates.

 

“Then why is it that it’s only Jungwoo who ordered something?”

 

“Then take my order. Please, server-nim hyung?” Doyoung says, a tight-lipped smile on his lips as he flutters his eyes just to get on Taeyong’s nerves. “Also, why do you have a scarf on?”

 

Taeyong says something like _‘It’s fashion’_ and _‘hiding’_ while Doyoung calls it ridiculous. The banter falls deaf in Jungwoo’s ears, who was too preoccupied with having a staring contest with the puppy who tries to break free from Taeyong’s grip. Tiny little barks escape from the small baby attempting to wiggle out. _That’s so cute._ Taeyong lets the puppy down, who runs fast towards Jungwoo as soon as he was free.

 

“Baby~” Jungwoo coos, welcoming the puppy with open arms.

 

“She’s a friend’s friend’s puppy,” Taeyong tells him. The puppy lies on her back, tail wagging as she looks at Jungwoo. “Only three months old, but she eats everything that’s why she’s so squishy.”

 

The puppy really is _squishy_ beyond the fur, Jungwoo rubs her fluffy belly, “What’s her name?”

 

“No name yet,” Taeyong says, shaking his head before cringing, “At least for me, I refuse to call her Rat.”

 

Doyoung chortles, “Her owner wants to name his dog Rat?”

 

“He said it was short for something, I forgot what.” Taeyong explains. Jungwoo could only think _Ratthew_ before he shoves the thought out of his head. Taeyong pets Rat on the head as he coos, “Who would dare call you a rat?”

 

“But rats can be cute too,” Jungwoo argues, not even joking at all.

 

“You’re unbelievable.” Doyoung says.

 

“Rat is the cutest.” Jungwoo pets her under the chin, and Rat welcomes it by licking the palm of his hand.

 

“Aw, she likes you.” Taeyong comments, “I was going to put her in a play pen, but she can stay with you if you want.”

 

“She’s mine,” Jungwoo claims. Taeyong only laughs, and leaves the travel carrier he was apparently holding with them.

 

Jungwoo gets attached to puppies easily. That’s why it was so easy for him to act like Rat was his actual pet as she stuck with him with whatever he was doing. Everything about the puppy is cute. Her collar is filled with _kawaii_ sushis and that’s just one of the very many adorable things Jungwoo has to say about her. Jungwoo misses having a pet so much. Jungwoo misses—

 

“Jungwoo, it’s ten already.” Doyoung reminds him. Jungwoo didn’t even notice the time, and he’s still too preoccupied with watching a show on his phone while cuddling with Rat, and he’s already set up a bed of throw pillows by the corner.

 

“And what about it?”

 

“You’re the one who asked me to remind you!”

 

Jungwoo didn’t really want to say goodbye to Rat, but he needed the sleep too, his head feels like it’s in a haze, he’ll just have to endure staying awake throughout the commute because he’s sure he won’t be able to wake up if he accidentally falls asleep in this state.

 

“Going already?” Taeyong asks, when the both of them stand up from their table, with Rat still snug in Jungwoo’s arms.

 

“Will Rat be here tomorrow?”

 

“It’s a temporary name. Don’t call her Rat!” Taeyong grumbles.

 

“Then Sushi?” Jungwoo suggests, remembering the collar around the puppy’s neck. Although hesitantly, Jungwoo hands her over to Taeyong.

 

Taeyong’s eyes widen at that, “You know his owner?”

 

“What? I said Sushi because of her collar.” Jungwoo says, Taeyong takes Rat (or Sushi) from him, and she’s already fighting the grip to get back to Jungwoo’s arms.

 

“Oh. Her owner’s nickname is like Sushi or Sashimi. Something like that.” Taeyong shrugs. Jungwoo has never met anyone who was nicknamed after Japanese cuisine (or willingly names their pet dog Rat). “Anyway, she’s here every day.”

 

“So you’re a dog sitter now too?” Doyoung says.

 

“Dogs are always welcome here at Neopups,” Taeyong says, sarcasm painted all over his eye smile. “That’s why you’re here, Dongyoungie.”

 

“Dogs are cute. You calling me cute?” Doyoung smiles back. Of course, give it to Kim Doyoung who never fails to bounce back.

 

Taeyong smiles for a split-second before he puts on a blank face, “Go home.”

 

“You guys are cute together.” Jungwoo butts in.

 

“Hey!” both Doyoung and Taeyong say at the same time, clearly showing offense. Taeyong says, “You too, go home!”

 

Taeyong may have shooed them away somehow, but he still moves Rat’s (or Sushi’s) paw to wave at them goodbye as they exit Neopups. Doyoung walks with Jungwoo towards the subway station since his apartment’s in the same direction anyway, and they stop at an ice cream shop just because Doyoung wanted to.

 

“I saw your tweet yesterday. You said you wanted ice cream,” Doyoung explains, when he pays for both of their ice cream cones even if Jungwoo didn’t even ask.

 

“Wow, Doyoungie-hyung really is an angel.” Jungwoo says, there’s no reason to reject free ice cream. His morning ended up being better than expected considering it started with nothing but frustration.

 

“If you need any help apartment hunting, I’ll be there.” Doyoung offers, once they’re by the subway entrance.

 

“Just buy me a house, hyung.” Jungwoo jokes.

 

Doyoung gives scrunches his brows together, and shakes his head, “That’s a bit…”

 

Jungwoo laughs, they both do, “I don’t even know if I’ll move anytime soon.”

 

“Well, you should. It gets harder every year,” Doyoung says. It’s a senior advice from the third year student to Jungwoo who was a year below him. Yet the way he pauses and stops to look away as if he was holding back from saying something—as if he’s shy, then back at Jungwoo again makes it seem like he’s the junior between the two of them, “And I missed having you as my roommate.”

 

“You already have a roommate, hyung.” Jungwoo points out.

 

“I can kick him out for you.”

 

“Who are you kidding, hyung. You can never kick Jaehyun-hyung out.”

 

“Hey!” Doyoung’s eyes widen, and he scoffs, “What is that look supposed to mean?”

 

“It means walk home safely because Jaehyun-hyung is waiting.”

 

“Jungwoo!” Doyoung whines in disbelief, “Really, why do you pair me up with everyone I know?”

 

Jungwoo’s already finished eating his ice cream once he’s walking down to the subway station, and he stares blankly ahead as he waits. Once the train pulls up and people step out of the carriage, Jungwoo’s reminded of another memory—with Airpods Guy yet again in one of their antics.

 

“The last person to get out of the train in that door would be?” Airpods Guy asked, as he used his fingers as sticks faking a drum roll.

 

“Would be what?”

 

“A guy or a girl? If you lose you give up your seat for me. Deal?” Airpods Guy negotiated. The smile on his face is filled with mischief, Jungwoo just couldn’t say no to that.

 

“Deal.”

 

Jungwoo never really had to give up his seat, because every time the doors opened, there would already be vacant seats, but they still played the game anyway despite that very fact. And Jungwoo can almost hear Jisung saying, _“Imagine if you never see him again you’d be stuck with only calling him Airpods Guy whenever you remember him because for nine months, you couldn’t ask for even just his name… Tragic.”_

 

Jungwoo shakes his head, hoping to shake the memory off, gets in and when he turns around to face the platform side—

 

_Fuck._

 

There he sees Airpods Guy sitting on a bench just outside a few meters away scrolling on his phone, except the doors have already closed and there is no way Jungwoo could get out of the train. The subway speeds up and it doesn’t even last that long before the sight is replaced with the dark walls of the tunnel.

 

Tragic, indeed.

 

***

 

Jungwoo’s being overly dramatic about it. It’s not a breakup. It’s barely even anything so why is he still thinking about it.

 

But really, why did Jungwoo have to see Airpods Guy like _that._ He’s been bugging his mind for weeks already, wondering where he could’ve went and why he doesn’t see him around anymore, and yet the most he could see of him is barely even ten seconds of him scrolling through his phone, sitting on a bench at the platform where Jungwoo’s boarded the train, doors closed, and already off to the next station. Uncertain when will be the next time he’d see him again.

 

What’s even dumber is Jungwoo realized he could have easily just left the train the following station and boarded the next one, assuming Airpods Guy would have gotten on the train after the one where Jungwoo was in left. Jungwoo realized he could’ve done that, when he was lying awake in bed and it took him longer than usual to fall asleep that night because he couldn't stop thinking about the wasted opportunity he didn't think of because he was too busy being shocked that the world has decided to play him like that.

 

And really, Jungwoo was beginning to notice how he was painting all this like he’s some kind protagonist in a cliché romcom and it makes him sick in the stomach because never has he ever realized he could get this cringey. He’s just bored, he supposes, his mind will stop being so silly soon enough.

 

Jungwoo had hoped he would see him the next day, but alas luck has never been on his side. It is a sad day for him, but probably an entertaining story to tell, so they could laugh at Jungwoo’s misery. It’s almost like Mrs. Park really just hired Jungwoo to be Jisung (and now even Chenle’s) babysitter who would give them bedtime stories before sleeping.

 

“It’s just like that one anime,” Jisung points out, tapping his pencil on the book in thought, “What’s it called again?”

 

“Naruto?” Chenle suggests, how he came up with that conclusion is beyond Jungwoo’s comprehension.

 

“No, Lele! How is it like Naruto?” Jisung furrows his eyebrows unimpressed. “It’s Your Name!”

 

“There’s an anime called Chenle?”

 

“It’s Your Name! As in the movie! The one with the meteor and where they switch bodies.”

 

“Didn’t they still end up meeting at the train but Taki-kun didn’t recognize—”

 

“Yeah,” Jisung deadpans, closing the book where he was solving an algebra problem. _Oh no, not again._ “I didn’t say it’s just like it. I just said I remembered the movie because the scene’s in the train, and they don’t know each other’s names.”

 

Chenle shakes his head, closing his book as well, “No, you said it’s just like it.”

 

“I just said I remembered the movie!”

 

“So he asked for her na—”

 

“Let’s go back to studying, shall we?” Jungwoo says, interrupting the both of them before it turns into another endless debate. Really, why does he even bother when he knows it would end up like this every single time.

 

Jungwoo should really just study, and forget about Airpods Guy. Besides, they were right, this isn’t Your Name and Jungwoo doesn’t have a red braided cord that connects him to Airpods Guy. It is what it is when Airpods Guy has Airpods, and the chord that connects them doesn’t exist when his earphones are wireless and— _What the actual fuck_ did Jungwoo just think of.

 

They don’t even know each other’s names, why exactly is Jungwoo thinking like this and how much more does he have to remind himself of that very fact before it sinks in his head. Jungwoo hates romance so much, it’s unrealistic and messes with his head. It’s stupid, definitely not for him. Jungwoo can go flirt as much as he wants with everyone because he knows it’s all a joke but the reality of it makes him wish he never had a heart to catch feelings he can’t even explain.

 

So Jungwoo distracts himself with everything else, he has school to worry about, and there’s Rat— _rather Sushi,_ since everyone else has decided to call her that now—and Jungwoo’s child as everyone else likes to put it. It’s almost like Jungwoo’s _this_ close to adopting Sushi even though he knows she isn’t up for adoption. Sushi probably thinks Jungwoo’s his owner, even Taeyong thinks so.

 

But even all that, Jungwoo still thinks of Airpods Guy as if it hasn’t been an actual month since he’s last seen him (not counting the one where he saw him at the platform). Throughout the week, Jungwoo’s realized something. He’s had enough time to think about it, and the sooner he admits it, the sooner he’ll get over it.

 

Maybe Airpods Guy wasn’t just another face to Jungwoo. Maybe it was a crush. A small, tiny crush.

 

“You realize that only now?” Jisung chides, after Jungwoo casually slips it in, “I thought we already established that the first time?”

 

“Well we’re establishing it only now,” Jungwoo asserts, even his words sound ridiculous to his own ears. “And also ending it, I’ve decided to get over it. I’m probably never going to see him again, what’s the point?”

 

“You’re so dramatic, hyung.” Jisung is slack jawed, in mockery, Jungwoo could tell though he has no energy to tell him off. “You say that now, but the next time you see him, you’ll be running to him in a heartbeat.”

 

Jungwoo makes a face before smiling, tapping on the book repeatedly he says, “How about we go back to studying?”

 

Maybe absence really does make the heart grow fonder—but that’s stupid because they don’t even know each other’s names. Jungwoo shoves it in his head that he just likes the idea of Airpods Guy and not the guy himself. What’s the point of knowing he covers his face with a single hand whenever he laughs, or flips his hair every minute for no reason at all when Jungwoo. Doesn't. Even. Know. His. Name. What’s the point of that little twinge he feels in his chest whenever he smiles when it’s obviously just his eyes seeing him framed in rose colored lenses just because he brightens up his day during the gray area that was supposed to be a boring commute.

 

Any other person could have done that anyway, there was nothing special about Airpods guy. It was just a crush— _a silly one at that,_ which Jungwoo realized for too late. He’ll get over it.

 

***

 

It is now a month and a week since Jungwoo’s last taken the train with Airpods Guy, and Jungwoo liked to convince himself that he hasn’t noticed when he’s buried with submissions with Finals coming up in two weeks.

 

It is a Thursday morning, there is no sign of Airpods Guy yet again. Sometimes, Jungwoo thinks what he saw that day wasn’t real, and he was just seeing things. It isn’t an unlikely thing considering he was deprived of sleep. Maybe he was just hallucinating, there is no way he would have showed up that day, and hasn’t been seen ever since.

 

After class, Jungwoo passes by a pet store and buys cute ribbon clips for Sushi since he’s supposed to have dinner with Doyoung, Jaehyun, Taeyong, and their other friends and play UNO as a pre-Finals thing at Neopups—except he can’t because he has a group meeting with another presentation in a while and also because Mrs. Park has asked Jungwoo to start his tutoring sessions with Jisung earlier for the next few weeks, so he’s going to have to drop by before any of them arrives, and he could just act cute around Taeyong and convince him to cover up for him.

 

“You came here to see your child?” Taeyong asks, waving at Jungwoo who had just entered Neopups. “One of these days I’m going to let you bring Sushi home and I’d just tell his owner she ran away or something.”

 

“Maybe you should,” Jungwoo kids, “Why is he never here?”

 

“He stays for a bit whenever he picks her back up most of the time. Honestly I’m surprised you’ve never seen him around since you started visiting more often. He brings Sushi here when he has class or is busy with family stuff. I’m not sure, really.” Taeyong shrugs, “I don’t really mind since I love Sushi too.”

 

Jungwoo plays with Sushi for a while, and clips on the ribbons he just bought, quickening his moves before any of the other guys would arrive. Jungwoo didn’t even have to try that hard to convince Taeyong that he’s bailing out tonight, and he’d cover up for him.

 

The group meeting lasts for nearly an hour, just because the rest of them couldn’t keep their focus on the topic, but at least they were all cooperative unlike last time. Jungwoo heads home right after they’ve wrapped up the discussion, Jungwoo only checks his messages once he’s on the train and as expected there’s a message from Doyoung.

 

 **Doyoungie-hyung** **♡**

_Hey! Taeyong-hyung’s mom said it’s on the house so dinner is free. Be jealous._

 

There are a few photos attached, table filled with food and UNO cards scattered everywhere, nothing unusual when it comes to them, but it wasn’t that which caught Jungwoo’s attention. His eyes immediately zoom on the background. Seated on the table just at the back of his friends, goofy smile plastered on his face, ears sans the usual wireless headphones.

 

It was without a doubt, Airpods Guy playing with the ribbons clipped on Sushi’s ears.

 

Jungwoo’s only a station away, it would take him only five minutes or so to get back to Neopups. As soon as the train pulls up at the platform, Jungwoo has never run out of the train to change lanes and go back to the university’s station as fast as he is going at now. Once again he can almost hear Jisung saying, _“You say that now, but the next time you see him, you’ll be running to him in a heartbeat.”_

 

In a heartbeat, indeed.


	4. Chapter 4

Jungwoo had been first to run out of the subway as soon as the doors opened up and he didn’t stop until he was in front of Neopups. He stood right in front of the glass double-doors catching his breath. _This was it,_ he was going to see Airpods Guy again after five weeks. It really is kind of stalker-ish now that Jungwoo thinks of it, but he was here now so there was no turning back. Jungwoo wipes his sweat off, and fixes his hair for a few seconds—but only because he didn’t want any of his friends to point out how disheveled he looked if he didn’t and not because he didn’t want to look like a mess in front of his _small, tiny_ crush (who is far from small and tiny when he’s even taller than Jungwoo but that’s beside the point).

 

“Jungwoo! I thought you were going to a zumba class with your mom that’s why you couldn’t make it?” is what Doyoung says as soon as he sees Jungwoo approaching their table, bunny eyes open wide with surprise. _Zumba?_

 

“Eh?” Jungwoo turns his head to look at Taeyong.

 

“Did your mom cancel on you, Jungwoo-yah? You were so excited for it earlier. That’s too bad.” Taeyong fakes a pout, and attempts to wink. Jungwoo would have laughed if only he didn’t scan his eyes at the table right behind them—It’s empty, with no Airpods Guy in sight.

 

_Not again._

 

“I didn’t know you were into zumba, Jungwoo.” Yuta laughs. _I didn’t know either,_ Jungwoo would have said, but instead he just faked a laugh and sat down when Doyoung scooted over and made space for Jungwoo to sit beside him. He glosses his eyes over within the vicinity. _Where is he?_

 

“So only Jaehyun couldn’t make it? Tell him to come over already!” Youngho says, nudging Doyoung who dodges it. “Anyway, can you help convince Taeyong to employ Yuta too here at Neopups. He needs a job, and I need more people to talk to during work hours.”

 

“I would have to fire someone if I would hire him. Do you think this establishment really just hires everyone?” Taeyong says, putting down a red card on top of another one on the discard pile.

 

“Then fire Youngho.” Yuta suggests, it’s like he’s planned on laying down the Wild Draw 4 right at that very moment to attack Youngho.

 

“Hey!” Youngho says, picking up card after card on the Draw pile as everyone else laughs at his misery. Save for Jungwoo who was still looking around the shop—and Doyoung who was casting glances at him. Jungwoo had to stop before he’d ask what (rather who) he was looking for.

 

It is still eating up Jungwoo’s mind, but he distracts himself by texting Jisung that he might not be able to tutor him today. However it doesn’t exactly work, especially when the table right next to them was empty and—There’s a spoonful of cake nudging on his lips.

 

“Why is our baby pouting?” Doyoung asks, motioning for Jungwoo to open up his mouth and eat the cake.

 

Jungwoo shrugs, he might as well go with the excuse Taeyong made up, “I really wanted to go to that zumba class.”

 

“You’re too cute,” Doyoung comments, looking away as he nonchalantly lays down a card on the discard pile as it was his turn. “Though you shouldn’t be too sad. I’ll go with you some other time if you want.”

 

“Where is Sushi?” Jungwoo asks, straying further away from the topic. He might as well visit his child since he’s already bothered himself to go back here even though he was already on the subway ride home.

 

“He just left with Renjun,” Taeyong answers. _Who?_

 

“What?”

 

“Oh wait sorry, you mean Puppy Sushi,” Taeyong laughs, “She just left. Human Sushi picked her up. He said the ribbons were _‘super cute'_ , by the way.”

 

“The tall and loud one? That was him? Jungwoo’s Sushi’s dad?” Yuta asks.

 

“Yeah, why else would I let him take Sushi home?”

 

“I thought it was the other guy because Sushi barked at him at first.”

 

“Sushi barks at her owner but not at Jungwoo,” Youngho says.

 

“That’s because Sushi is Jungwoo’s child,” Taeyong points out, “That guy’s gonna go ballistic if he finds out no one but him calls her Rat anymore and even stole his nickname.”

 

“Sushi is my child too,” Youngho argues, “I literally work here.”

 

“I only employed you because no one else would hire you. You’re more like Sushi’s servant.”

 

“Isn’t it because your mom loves me?”

 

Taeyong laughs before he abruptly stops himself and deadpans, “No.”

 

Jungwoo joins the next game of UNO when Yuta won, and Youngho threw his cards (basically half the deck) on the table. Taeyong tells him to clean it up otherwise he’d give his job over to Yuta, and Doyoung left the table only to come back with Ruby and Turtle, the Corgi and they both cuddle Jungwoo as if he’s their owner and not Taeyong.

 

It is an hour later when Jungwoo’s on the commute back home (again) and he’s boarded the train and staring blankly at a subway ad, did he realize what he just did. _One photo_ and Jungwoo dropped everything just to go back to Neopups because of the possibility that Airpods Guy might still be there. _He wasn’t,_ and even Sushi wasn’t there either. Jungwoo basically went there for nothing but to go to a dinner get-together he initially couldn’t go to because he had to tutor Jisung—which he didn’t get to do either since Jungwoo. Dropped. Everything. For. Airpods. Guy.

 

Not like Jungwoo didn’t have a good time, but still he bumps his head on a pole and cringes at his own actions. There were no other witnesses but him, no one else knows what he just did, yet he still can’t help but be embarrassed at the whole situation. Jisung even left messages in his inbox reminding him of what he just did.

 

**jisungie^3^v**

_DID U MEET WITH AIRPODS GUY AND ARE ON A DATE IS THAT WHY U R CANCELLING ON US_

 

_ARE U G UYS ON A DATE??_

 

 _hyung ……….. reply_ _ㅠㅜ_

 

_ >:::::::::::::( _

 

_just text us if u home alrdy >_< lele n i will wait~~ #studyhardnow #datelater #please #hyung #idkhowtodothehomework #help _

 

Except Jungwoo doesn't text back, how could he when his head is floating and not letting him live down the fact that he quite literally ran out of the train just because of a small, tiny crush. Jungwoo doesn’t even know his name, and yet he still ran. _That’s creepy,_ he repeats in his mind. Jungwoo can’t even process anything else in his brain that when he enters his house, he could only manage a nod when his mom said Jisung was looking for him. He entered his room, put on _How Am I Supposed to Live Without You_ playing on his laptop, lies down on his bed and opens up his chat with Doyoung so he could zoom in on the background where Airpods Guy’s face was clearly caught. Jungwoo knows everyone else in the photo, even Sushi who was a puppy was there, it’s only him who wasn’t even though he was in Neopups almost every single day and yet—

 

 _Stop._ Jungwoo locks his phone and stares at the ceiling. _Get a grip, Kim Jungwoo._ He’s being unnecessarily dramatic over this again, and he’d like to believe it has more to do with how ridiculous it is that he was so close to actually seeing Airpods Guy again in two instances, but the world has somehow made a way for their paths to never cross. It’s an asymptote, they can get closer and closer but they will never meet—number three on _The 3 Saddest Mathematics Love Stories_ which trends on his feed every once in awhile as if the post feels like they are Mariah Carey in Christmas like it hasn’t been over a decade ago and only gets stronger every year.

 

Except it isn’t a love story, isn’t even sad, and is barely even anything. _“Leave Mariah Carey-sunbaenim out of this hyung.”_ Chenle would say if he ever mentions it in their bedtime story sessions. It almost sounds like his head’s turning into those fanfictions Youngho reads out loud when business at Neopups is slow and Taeyong is too busy cuddling with Ruby to even remember his parents have made him manager of the place so they would let him take a break from college.

 

But really, what kind of unfortunate luck does Jungwoo have. It’s the second time, just one more and it’ll be three strikes. Jungwoo swears if it happens one more time he would—There’s a knock on his door.

 

“Were you planning on ditching us even though we’re literally just next door?” Jisung says, poking his head in from outside the door. Michael Bolton was belting out how he didn’t come for cryin’, didn’t come to breakdown. “Hyung, did my mom give you her CDs to play?”

 

“Where is Chenle?”

 

“I’m here, hyung!” Chenle beams, poking his head in as well. “You missed me? You missed me?”

 

“Of course, I did.” Jungwoo pouts, he didn’t mean to. He looks away and takes his vision back to the ceiling. He’s the oldest one in the room yet he’s the one acting like an actual child. The both of them enter his room to sit down on his bed, Jisung pokes the side of his stomach and Jungwoo doesn’t have the energy to tell him off.

 

“Did anything happen?” Jisung says, trying to fish something out of him. They haven’t even started their study session and Jisung is already out here on his agenda to do _anything_ but study. “You want to tell us all about it?”

 

Unfortunately for Jisung, studying might help Jungwoo forget just how much of a fool he was acting tonight. So he sits down and slaps Jisung’s hand away from poking him and says, “Nothing bad. I’ll tell you guys tomorrow. Let’s study tonight.”

 

***

 

The memory of the second semester of Jungwoo’s freshman year was mostly hazy for a number of reasons. One being partially because Jungwoo’s decided not to live at the dorms anymore and move back to Gimpo and he overestimated himself when he said he can handle the daily commute.

 

When Jungwoo got home, he would run errands, do chores, tutor Jisung, do school work, study, sleep—There was nearly not enough time to do anything else but the things he was supposed to do. That was why the only time he could play games or use his phone is when he’s commuting to and from school. Except there were times he’d rather sleep in subway or bus rides than use this time as leisure, but he couldn’t, otherwise he might not be able to wake up and get off where he needed to get off.

 

There were times it was almost impossible to fight off the sleep. One time being when Jungwoo couldn’t get a wink of sleep the night before since he was putting posters up in places where he can around the neighborhood and contacting so many people because maybe—

 

“Good morning…” someone said, at the very same moment his eyes were about to shut. There is a hand moving before his eyes, and the motion seemed so hypnotic it seems less like a wave the more that Jungwoo stared. He turned his head to the side to be greeted with a smile so blinding it could battle the morning sun. “...man.”

 

 _Man. Of course,_ they still didn’t know each other's names. Jungwoo kept forgetting to ask whenever he sees him—Airpods Guy.

  
“Good morning,” Jungwoo greeted back, he raised his hand holding his phone in an attempt to wave, but instead he ended up using it to cover his mouth when a yawn escaped from his mouth not long after he spoke. He really was in need of sleep, he didn’t even realize he sat next to Airpods Guy when he got in the train.

 

“Couldn’t get any sleep?” he asked, Jungwoo could only manage a nod as a response. Airpods Guy lets out a small laugh, his eyes hovering over Jungwoo’s phone.

 

“I like your phone case,” he commented, pointing at it. “It’s pink. I like pink.”

 

“Thanks, my sister gave it to me.”

 

There is a silence, nothing they weren’t used to. It’s almost like these small talks halted after they reach thirty words. It used to be awkward, but it didn’t bother Jungwoo anymore and it felt more comfortable as the words die down in the morning buzz.

 

“I’ll wake you up when we get to school. Sleep.” Airpods Guy offered.

 

Jungwoo appreciated it, really. He needed the sleep. Before closing his eyes, Jungwoo muttered a “Thank you.” before he let the sounds of the morning rush hour, and the faint noise of music escaping from the airpods of the guy sitting next to him serve as a lullaby to sleep.

 

***

 

The first thing Jungwoo thought off when he wakes up, is that he really did run in a heartbeat like a fool the very moment he saw that Airpods Guy was at Neopups. The thought itself has ruined the whole day for him already, and Jungwoo resents just how right Jisung is whenever he clowns him.

 

Even the first thing Jungwoo does is unlock his phone, open up his chat with Doyoung—which had a _“Good morning Jungwoo! Good luck with submissions and all. We can do this. Fighting!”_ sent only a few minutes ago. He sends a quick _“good morning too doyoungie-hyung~!! fighting^^”_ before he backtracks and zooms in on the photo of Airpods Guy behind his friends once again.

 

It really is him. With Sushi, Jungwoo’s _child,_ and his friends with wacky faces in the shot. Jungwoo has a picture, and it’s probably the closest he could get to see him at the moment. He decides to torment himself even more by staring at the photo on his walk to the bus stop. Take the bus. Stare at the picture. Get off the bus. Stare at the picture. Go down the subway station. Stare at the picture. Ten stops. Stare at the picture. Climb up and out of the station and wait for the bus that would take him to the bus stop just in front of his college building. Stare at the picture. It’s obsessive at this point, and Jungwoo snaps out of it by restricting himself from looking at the photo for the rest of the day.

 

If Jungwoo were to be honest, he shouldn’t have went all the way to university today and should’ve just slept in. He only really went for the attendance, though most professors are lenient and only went to the room to roll call then let them do whatever they have to do with deadlines coming up the next week.

 

Jungwoo doesn’t even let himself stay until the end of his last period and went out of the room as soon as he’s called for attendance to take the bus to the subway station. When Jungwoo gets out of the bus, he is reminded that Airpods Guy isn’t exactly hard to miss. His hair is dyed in some sort of shade in between blond and brown, and the bright locks are stark amongst the sea of heads with how much of a giant he seems to be.

 

Which is what Jungwoo exactly sees a good five meters away from where he was standing with his back turned. When he recognizes the shirt the guy was wearing was a block tee which was a peachy pink on the top, and navy blue on the bottom and he’s seen Airpods Guy wearing a shirt just like that several times already.

 

_Fuck._

 

In shock, Jungwoo drops the plastic envelope he was holding, and in the second he crouched to retrieve it, he loses sight of him the moment he takes his eyes back to where he saw him. _Not again. He couldn’t possibly be that far ahead already._ Jungwoo scans the crowd in hopes he would spot him again. Jungwoo walks toward the direction and he’s only taken a few steps when he feels a heavy hand tap on his shoulder—and another moving before his eyes right in front of his face.

 


	5. Chapter 5

“Jungwoo-hyung!” is what he’s greeted with when he looked back to check who it was. There’s a wide smile plastered on the other’s face and Jungwoo mimics the same. Jungwoo hasn’t seen him in a while.

 

It’s Mark Lee.

 

“Oh hey, Mark!” Jungwoo beams. He’s shared classes with him last semester. They’re friends, but the last time Jungwoo’s seen him had been in some house party a few months back. They’re close enough to have Jungwoo be the subject of his freestyle raps, albeit a drunk one. The memory of Mark Lee slurring “Kim J-woos gets on my freaking uwus” in English is still stark in Jungwoo’s mind, whatever that means.

 

“You looking for someone?” he asks. _Oh, right,_ Jungwoo was looking at someone who eerily resembled Airpods Guy before he carelessly dropped his plastic envelope and ultimately lost track of him the moment Mark’s hand blocked his vision. He scans the vicinity one last time and no trace of blond brown locks could be seen in sight.

 

“Not really. I just thought I saw someone, but I was wrong.” Jungwoo shrugs. The coincidences have been too much. It would have been three strikes already if he wasn’t just seeing things. It must’ve just been his eyes playing with him. _Cut it out,_ he reprimands himself. _This is getting out of hand._

 

Mark hums and nods, “You going home already?”

 

“I’m on my way to Neopups actually.” Jungwoo says. He won’t be able to visit Sushi much after today. With next week’s submissions coming up, Jungwoo would probably be too preoccupied with schoolwork to even think about anything else and stay over and crash at Doyoung and Jaehyun’s place, so he doesn’t have to deal with commuting all the way from Gimpo with how crucial those deadlines are.

 

Mark’s eyes widen in surprise, “Oh? I’m going there too my friend owns that place!”

 

“Taeyong-hyung?”

 

“Yeah! My friend even has his dog there,” Mark mentions. All the dogs at Neopups are cared for by Taeyong’s family. Except for one.

 

_Sushi._

 

“You mean Rat?”

 

“Yes. Rat!” Mark confirms. Suddenly the world is small.

 

“You’re friends with Rat’s dad?”

 

Before Mark could answer his question, a loud “Mark-hyung!” halts the conversation. Someone was approaching them a good few meters away… someone holding a… _watermelon?_

 

“Hello, I’m Renjun!” Watermelon guy—Renjun beams, the bright smile on his face seemed too big to be normal for someone who was simply just holding a watermelon. Mark shoots a crazed look at Renjun before taking the giant fruit in his hand.

 

“Thanks for holding that for me.” Mark says, unzipping his bag and shoving the watermelon inside it, where another watermelon is placed instead of actual things an average college student should have. _It gets weirder._ Jungwoo’s quite not sure what’s happening anymore.

 

“Oh yeah, Jungwoo-hyung. This is Renjun.” Mark introduces, as soon as he’s done fixing his watermelons in the bag. The name sounded oddly familiar in his ears, but Jungwoo couldn’t quite put his finger on it. “He was on his way to Neopups to like us.”

 

“Do you want to join us? We’re waiting for our friend to pick up his puppy, but he just went to class.” Renjun offers, company is good for once. Only Doyoung’s ever willing to come with Jungwoo most of the time when he goes here to visit Sushi, and both Taeyong and Youngho are often too busy with the cafe to sit down with him. So Jungwoo nods with a smile.

 

They enter Neopups and both Mark and Renjun took a seat already while Jungwoo made a beeline for the counter where Taeyong has his face down with a pen in hand reading some documents. Business paperwork, perhaps. Meanwhile, Youngho’s busying himself at the side in the playpen area where the rest of the dogs are.

 

“You came here to see your child?” Taeyong takes one look at Jungwoo, not at all surprised that he was here, and smiles as a greeting before resuming his work on whatever he was working on prior. “Didn’t bring your boyfriend?”

 

“What boyfriend?”

 

“Who else? _Doyoungie-hyung~_ ” Taeyong teases, Youngho laughs at the side, seemingly impressed with Taeyong’s impression of Jungwoo. _Ugh._

 

“Hyung,” Jungwoo whines, “Did you and hyung fight again? I swear Doyoungie-hyung loves only you.”

 

Taeyong almost snaps at that, but then he just smiles and shakes his head, “Doyoung loves you the most though.”

 

“He loves Jaehyun-hyung more.”

 

Youngho says joining them, carrying Ruby like a baby in his arms, “What kind of conversation is this even? Should I just call Doyoung and ask who he loves the most?”

 

Jungwoo just laughs, “I’m here with Mark Lee.”

 

This catches Taeyong’s attention, “You know Mark?”

 

Jungwoo nods, he glosses his eyes over to the playpen area, “Where is Sushi?”

 

***

 

 _Sushi, Sushi, Sushi._ It’s amazing how Jungwoo’s gotten so attached with the puppy in a matter of a few weeks. There’s something about how affectionate Sushi is to Jungwoo particularly. Sushi would wag her tail over-excitedly every single time Jungwoo’s in sight and wouldn’t calm down unless they let her stay with Jungwoo once she knows he’s near.

 

It’s almost like she’s welcoming him home every time, except Jungwoo doesn’t live in Neopups and Sushi isn’t even his pet. Jungwoo just borrows Sushi in the day, he doesn’t even have any pets. Which is curious since Jungwoo has so much love for dogs and yet doesn’t have any pets at home at the moment. Even his family doesn’t understand why he would rather not even when they’ve already given him the go signal to adopt one. Some understand of course, _Jungwoo just can’t for now._

 

Besides, the dogs at Neopups are enough to Jungwoo for now—And Sushi, who of course, isn’t actually under Neopups’ (or Jungwoo’s) care. So Jungwoo settles with asking Mark more about Sushi’s owner over frappes and cake, with Sushi herself snug on his lap.

 

“He’s been busy with stuff,” Mark answers, “Honestly, it’s such a bad time for him to adopt a puppy since—”

 

“It’s never a bad time to adopt a puppy.” Renjun interrupts, nonchalantly putting a piece of cake in his mouth while typing on his phone as he does so.

 

“He could have waited until after the semester ended.”

 

“You know the story of how he got Rat. You think he could have waited until the semester ended?”

 

“Then okay, it’s the perfect time to get a puppy!” Mark says in defeat, Renjun grins in mischief. “Well, anyway. His schedule won’t be that bad by next month, so he can actually stop dropping her off here and actually take care of her.”

 

Jungwoo pouts, he didn’t mean too, but not seeing Sushi actually makes him _sad._ He hands Sushi over to Mark and Renjun’s side of the table to divert the attention away from him. Maybe he shouldn’t have asked.

 

“Apeachie~” Mark coos, carrying Sushi in his arms. “Apeach Cutie must be that cute huh?”

 

“Apeach? Isn’t her name Rat?” Jungwoo asks. So Sushi has more names?

 

“He wanted to name her Apeach at first but then dumbass suddenly said it was weird. As if Rat isn’t weirder. The only reason he didn’t want to is because Apeach re—” Renjun shoves a piece of cake in Mark’s mouth without notice, he chokes on it and immediately gulps down his frappe to wash it—obviously a bad decision when his face crumples with the brain freeze in his head and it scares Sushi off so much she retreats back to Jungwoo’s side.

 

Renjun only cackles at the sight of Mark’s struggle. He sure is something else.

 

Mark shouts as soon as he’s swallowed everything, “What was that for?!”

 

“So Rat here is your child, hyung?” Renjun says, choosing to ignore Mark.

 

“I call her Sushi.” Jungwoo says. Mark doesn’t even hesitate to burst in a fit of laughter after that. Even Renjun is laughing. Did he—Fuck, Jungwoo forgot Sushi shared the same nickname as his owner.

 

“Yeah, Sushi suits her better.” Mark comments.

 

“Oh yeah, by the way. Let’s take a selfie to commemorate meeting you today, hyung.” Renjun says, out of the blue.

 

“What’s with you today, Renjun-ah?” Mark whispers, but loud enough for Jungwoo to hear. Renjun only nudges him at the side. He continues, “You’re so weird today.”

 

“Who are you to judge when you have two watermelons in your bag.” Mark opens his bag and takes the watermelon out as if threatening to throw it at Renjun. _This day really is weird._ Renjun scoots over to Jungwoo’s side and hands Mark his phone to take the photo. “Come take a picture with us then. I’ll just crop you out when I post it.”

 

“I have to go in a while,” Jungwoo mentions, after taking the photo. He should leave before rush hour so his travel time won’t be longer like usual.

 

“Let’s go together. I needed to get home anyway.” Mark says, fixing his stuff. Jungwoo didn’t mean now, but Mark seems to think he did.

 

“What do you mean by go together aren’t we waiting for Yu—Sushi to finish class and pick up Rat?” Renjun asks.

 

“I still have a paper due tomorrow. Besides, he isn’t replying and his class is already over. He probably forgot we were waiting and in case you forgot, I also have to drag two watermelons on my behind,” Mark reminds him, as he puts on the backpack straps on his shoulders. Jungwoo still doesn’t know why he even has two watermelons on his behind (in his bag, particularly).

 

“Then I’m not waiting, either!” Renjun retorts, slinging his bag behind him as well. He types on his phone, frantic fingers tapping on the screen in a rush that he doesn’t even bother to look away as they vacate the table. Jungwoo hugs Sushi goodbye before putting her pack in the playpen, and waves at Taeyong and Youngho goodbye on his way out.

 

Mark was first to say goodbye as soon as they’ve stepped out of the dog cafe, seemingly in a rush to leave with his watermelons heavy in his bag. Jungwoo’s left with Renjun, and he doesn’t actually know if they’re heading the same direction, but before he could ask Renjun speaks.

 

“Wait, I need to take this.” Renjun excuses himself, waving the phone where someone was calling. He picks up without moving away from his spot. Jungwoo didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but he couldn’t help but notice that Renjun was speaking in Mandarin—no wait, Korean and some English. _Actually, no,_ it was a mix of three languages, none of which Jungwoo could string together to form a cohesive sentence. So Jungwoo busies himself with his phone. There’s a text message from Doyoung.

 

**Doyoungie-hyung ♡**

_Can I call?_

 

Renjun’s still preoccupied with the phone call. Jungwoo takes a few steps away and dials Doyoung. It only takes two rings before he picks up.

 

“Jungwoo?”

 

“Hyung! You asked if you could call.”

 

“Oh right, Jaehyun said you’re free to stay over during hell week… which is next week, of course.”

 

“But I haven’t asked yet?”

 

“You haven’t asked?” Doyoung blurts out. Jungwoo could hear Jaehyun laughing in the background. “Well you mentioned it before. You are staying over right? In a few days or so?”

 

“I am,” Jungwoo giggles. “Thank you, hyung. But you wanted to call me for this?”

 

“...You’re the one who called.”

 

Jungwoo laughs, “You asked if you could call, hyung. So I just called.”

 

“Yeah…” Doyoung drawls out, “A-Ah! Anyway, I have some research to do. Just call if you need anything. Goodnight!”

 

It’s barely even four in the afternoon, but he doesn’t bother correct. _Doyoungie-hyung_ truly is precious. Jungwoo could only laugh, “Alright, alright. Goodnight. Love you, hyung!”

 

Jungwoo puts the phone down when Doyoung hangs up.

 

“Someone special, hyung?” Renjun asks. Jungwoo didn’t even notice he was done with his own phone call.

 

Jungwoo shakes his head, “Just a friend.”

 

Renjun hums for a moment before shrugging. He smiles then asks, “Can you come with me for a while or are you in a hurry? I just want to get ice cream.”

 

They’ve left earlier than he intended to anyway. Jungwoo smiles, “I’m not in a hurry.”

 

They go to the same ice cream shop he and Doyoung went to before and got sundaes as they chatted over mundane things like Renjun’s roommates.

 

“There’s four of us in a single room. There’s not much space, so I know everything they’re up to. They’re nosy. They talk about our neighbor’s love life all the time. Saying he’s dating his roommate but also brings in this one cute guy at his apartment all the time. No one could figure out which one he’s dating. I hate them so much.” Renjun whines, sounding too enthusiastic for someone who claims to hate them.

 

“So who do you think he’s dating?”

 

“I’m not sure yet. Jeno’s vote goes to roommate. Jaemin says it’s cute guy. Then Donghyuck says he’s cheating with the both of them. There’s a bet going on, and they said I should cast in my vote. I don’t know the full details since I didn’t want them to think I’m _that_ invested. He could be dating both, like a poly relationship maybe.” Renjun shrugs.

 

“You don’t sound like you’re not invested.”

 

“I’m not!” Renjun denies, shoving in a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth.

 

“That actually sounds fun,” Jungwoo comments. Not the betting on their neighbor’s love life part, but generally living with friends. He actually misses the dorm life. It’s a lot easier than traveling back and forth from Gimpo to Seoul.

 

“It is. I mean it’s tiring because it’s them, they’re so loud and Donghyuck blasts idol songs all the time our neighbors have knocked on the wall several times to tell him off. But yeah, it’s fun.”

 

“I actually used to live in a dorm but now I moved back home. My roommate before, Doyoungie-hyung. He picked up this habit of taking care of me like an actual parent. Sometimes he acts like a guardian more than my own parents. I was just on the phone with him actually.” Jungwoo says.

 

“Inch resting…” Renjun nods in understanding. _What._ Jungwoo isn’t sure if he heard him right or what he even means. “Why did you move back home, though?”

 

A smile hangs midway on Jungwoo’s face. There is a pause. The ice cream has melted in his mouth. He gulps and then shrugs, “Personal reasons. I think I might move back by next semester as much as I don’t want to, but commuting has been hard. I don’t know.”

 

“If you’re looking for a roommate, I know someone who’s _very_ interested.” Renjun offers.

 

Jungwoo laughs, “I’ll think about it.”

 

They step out of the shop not long after they finished off their sundaes.

 

“Let’s hang out some other time,” Renjun smiles, as soon as they’re by the subway entrance. There is a hanging silence filling the air, almost as if he’s stalling. “Jungwoo-hyung.”

 

They exchanged twitter handles before Jungwoo goes down the to the station. His eyes automatically examine the place as he taps the T-money card, absentmindedly walking towards the escalator where he looks as far as he can see.

 

Still no sight of Airpods Guy.

 

Jungwoo sighs, it’s not his fault his subconscious has developed the habit of scanning the subway station for even just a single strand of hair coming from Airpods Guy. _It’s stupid and annoying._ He takes his earphones out of his bag and the train arrives just as he’s plugged in his earphones. Once inside, all seats were already occupied, so Jungwoo’s settled himself with fingers wrapped loosely on a handle, and the other on his phone checking for messages.

 

**Doyoungie-hyung ♡**

_Take care going home!_

 

**jisungie^3^**

_lele and i r starting on our hws alrdy hope ur ready to talk abt airpods guy 2nyt hyung ^_^_

 

Airpods Guy. Jungwoo chuckles to himself, exiting the Messages app to play a Justin Bieber song just because—someone was scratching his leg.  _No._ A puppy was scratching on his leg excitedly, both paws leaning and jumping on his legs that Jungwoo almost drops his phone in panic when he looks down.

 

_Sushi._

 

Jungwoo doesn’t even let a split-second pass before he crouches down to pick Sushi up from the floor. Sushi goes straight to Jungwoo’s face and proceeds to lick his chin and cheeks. The sight of Sushi attacking Jungwoo with her kisses were catching glances from everyone around him. It’s not an everyday sight in the train. Hell, Sushi is the last Jungwoo’s expected to see in the subway. He needs to make her calm down before someone makes a complaint and force them to get out. That’s when Jungwoo hears a familiar voice, distant, but loud enough for him to here through Justin Bieber saying _you are my love, you are my heart, and we will never, ever, ever be apart._

 

“Yo, Rat! Baby! Rat!” Jungwoo hears the voice _getting closer, getting louder._ The voice is now right behind him, Jungwoo is sure. He lowers the volume down. “Ah sorry about this. Thanks for catching her.”

 

This time, Jungwoo feels a heavy hand tap on his shoulder—Jungwoo freezes, but he doesn’t hesitate to turn around and confirm his suspicious—and it’s Airpods Guy.

 

_Fuck._

 

Jungwoo snatched his earphones off so fast it lands with a clank on the floor, Justin Bieber’s first love breaking his heart for the first time be damned. His grip on Sushi loosens by a bit, and she lifts herself up in his arms, tiny legs struggling before Jungwoo fixes his hold.

 

“Hello, long time no see…” Airpods Guy is so out of breath. He smiles, “...man.”

 

Jungwoo supposes there’s a lack of oxygen in the train. _Suddenly, he can’t breathe either._


	6. Chapter 6

_Pause._ There is a silence that lingers and the white noise pass through Jungwoo’s ears as he digests everything. _Sushi. Rat. The photo of Airpods Guy playing with Sushi’s ribbons. The tall and loud one, Yuta says. Mark and Renjun waiting for Sushi’s owner at Neopups._ Another five seconds pass before Jungwoo’s mind managed to gather all his brain cells to finally process the whole situation.

 

“You’re Rat’s dad?” Jungwoo blurts out, unable to conceal his shock.

 

Airpods Guy’s eyes grow wider than they already were, “How do you know Rat?!”

 

It’s a simple question yet Jungwoo can’t seem to find the words to respond. So he buys more time by handing Sushi over to Airpods Guy—Except Sushi doesn’t seem to be too keen with the idea, and flails her legs as Airpods Guy struggles to keep her steady in his grip. Sushi lets out tiny little barks as she’s looks intently at Jungwoo. Right there, Airpods Guy understands just what the puppy wanted to happen.

 

_“This stop is Bongcheon. Bongcheon. The doors are on your left.”_

 

“Ah, this won’t do,” Airpods Guy gives up, handing Sushi over to Jungwoo, whose arms welcome her without a second thought. As expected, all it took was for Jungwoo to carry her to make her calm down. “You want to come with us?”

 

They’ve garnered more attention than necessary at this point. The lady with the bob cut sitting on the left side has been giving them the stink eye the moment Sushi was scratching on his leg, and so have a handful of others too. It’s not the most comfortable state to be in. So Jungwoo nods, and Airpods Guy points at the opening subway doors before striding over to where he’s left the travel carrier maybe when Sushi ran over when she spotted Jungwoo. Within a split-second, he shoves the earphones he’s dropped on the floor in his pocket and exits the train in record time.

 

Jungwoo looks towards the left, waiting for Airpods Guy to exit to any of the subway doors. Sushi’s licking his chin as he waits for the other to get out as well. For a moment, Jungwoo thinks the train would leave before Airpods Guy would be able to go out since the world seemed to be fond of playing with his life. Fortunately, not this time as Airpods Guy emerges out two doors away from where he is. Airpods Guy waves, travel carrier in tow as he walks over to where Jungwoo is standing with a goofy smile on his face. It’s blinding, and maybe Jungwoo couldn’t be any more obvious when his jaw slacks at the sight of it.

 

 _Get a grip, Kim Jungwoo._ Jungwoo’s had the habit of whatever he’s holding at the most inconvenient of times, and Sushi doesn’t seem appreciate it with how she climbs herself up in his arms before he takes notice of this and fixes his hold.

 

Airpods Guy halts his steps as soon as he was in front of Jungwoo, with one hand he ruffles his hair, “I didn’t think you would agree to come with.”

 

A green bottle on top of a disposable bin is still there, Jungwoo’s seen it _yesterday,_ when he was at the very same subway station. Jungwoo was staring at it as he waited for the train to take him back to his university’s station just because Doyoung sent him a picture that captured Airpods Guy with Sushi in the background. It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours since then. Why wouldn’t Jungwoo agree to stepping out of the train with him when he has literally taken a train just to go see him.

 

Airpods Guy didn’t know that of course, no one needs to know that. _It’s embarrassing._

 

“You left Rat with me.” Jungwoo excuses instead. It’s the convenient truth anyway even though he knows he would still go with him even if he hadn’t been holding Sushi.

 

“I did. Sorry,” Airpods Guy laughs and shakes his head. “Let’s go.”

 

Airpods Guy turns his back and walks away. Sushi was still wiggling in Jungwoo’s hold and peppering his chin with kisses. Jungwoo wanted to call out to him and ask where they were headed. That’s when it hits him.

 

Jungwoo still doesn’t know his name.

 

Jungwoo just stands there, watching his back get more distant. This is his chance. He’s been waiting for weeks just to ask for a name. It’s been nearly two semesters long overdue already.

 

This is it. Jungwoo catches up on his steps and just when he was just behind Airpods Guy, he musters up all his courage and says, “Wh—”

 

“By the way,” Airpods Guy interrupts, looking back at Jungwoo. With one hand he shoots a finger gun as he smiles, “I’m Yukhei.”

 

***

 

Turns out Airpods Guy— _Yukhei_ only wanted to sit down an empty bench as they wait for the train and for Sushi calm down enough to go back to the carrier. So they do sit down, with Jungwoo still carrying Sushi in his arms.

 

There are so many questions looming in his head, Jungwoo wants to ask why he hasn’t seen him around without coming off as intrusive—which is nearly impossible, so he’d rather keep his mouth shut. Admittedly, Jungwoo’s been thinking about this, about how it’ll be like when they’ll meet again, but he has never actually imagined how it would go, so he has no idea how to act right now.

 

 _Act natural, then._ But knowing himself, Jungwoo would do just about the exact opposite of that.

 

So Jungwoo settles with paying as much as attention to Sushi, so he doesn’t have to talk and make a fool of himself in front of Yukhei. Sushi is now staring at Jungwoo’s pointing finger, and he plays as she nibbles his finger once she manages to catch it. Her baby teeth were still sharp given that she’s still a puppy, but it was such an endearing sight to see Sushi having fun that Jungwoo didn’t mind at all. It didn’t even matter that he looks like a fool with how wide he was grinning down at Sushi, she was too cute, he can’t help it. Jungwoo could see Yukhei looking straight at him from his peripheral vision, probably wondering why his puppy is so attached to the random stranger he often sees at the subway.

 

“Cute,” Yukhei mutters under his breath.

 

_What._

 

Jungwoo stills at that. His mind goes blank and Sushi’s gnaws on his finger went numb for a second. _No,_ he’s referring to Sushi, of course. Jungwoo snaps out and pulls his finger out of Sushi’s teeth to scratch her fur.

 

“Rat is a cute name.” Jungwoo says, he really does mean it, even if he somehow unintendedly changed her name to Sushi behind Yukhei’s back.

 

“Thanks. It’s short for Ratthew.” Yukhei says, cackling to himself right after. Jungwoo is not at all surprised. “It’s just until I figure out a better name.”

 

“Wait here,” Yukhei stands up and heads to a nearby vending machine and Jungwoo’s resorted to watching his back as Yukhei presses on buttons and slips notes inside of it. That’s when Jungwoo takes notice of his outfit—a block tee, peachy pink top, and navy blue on the bottom. The very same shirt he’s seen the person he’d thought to be Airpods Guy earlier by the bus stop.

 

The world really was playing with him.

 

“I don’t really know what to get you. So I just got two kinds.” Yukhei says once he gets back, waving a packet of Chik Chok Cookies and a Binch.

 

“You didn’t need to though but thanks.”

 

“It’s no problem…” Yukhei drags out as he opens the box, he takes one, tears it open, and pops the single Binch in his mouth. Oh, _right,_ he still doesn’t know his name. “...man.”

 

“I’m Jungwoo,” Jungwoo beams, tilting his head by the slightest, “Kim. Jung. Woo.”

 

“Kim. Jung. Woo.” Yukhei repeats. “Cute,” he purses his lips, cheekbones prominent with an apparent suppressed laugh. “Cute name.”

 

 _What._ Dead air fills in their conversation once again. Jungwoo is torn between wanting to disappear from the scene or wanting to stay for as long as he can. _What does it mean. What is that supposed to mean._ Does his name sound that funny? Was there something funny with the way he said his name? Jungwoo? Kim Jungwoo? Funny?

 

“Thanks?” Jungwoo says, unsure of how to respond. “Well your name is cute too. It suits you.”

 

Jungwoo wants to bury himself underground, they’re already below ground level since they are in a subway, but he could feel himself sink lower with every word reaction he does and word he says just because he can’t act like a normal human being around his small, tiny (not) crush.

 

“Well, my full name is Wong Yukhei. You can also call me Xuxi—Huang Xuxi or Lucas, or—” Yukhei cuts his words short as if catching his tongue. “...whichever you prefer.” Letting out a single cough, Yukhei tears open another Binch, “Do you want some?”

 

Yukhei was looking at Jungwoo expectantly as he munches on the biscuits with breadcrumbs on his lips, one hand with the Binch still outstretched for Jungwoo to take. Just when Jungwoo was about to take one hand off Sushi, Yukhei decided it was a good idea to inch his hands closer to Jungwoo’s lips and nudge the biscuit on the surface of it. It stays there for seconds with how Jungwoo doesn’t seem to know what to do with it.

 

_This is so awkward._

 

It takes Jungwoo’s brain a few more seconds before he manages to make himself bite the Binch before Sushi would because the biscuit has chocolate, and he can’t let her have even a single bite unless he’s up for causing another scene in the subway station to make her spit it out. It’s silent once again between them two, only the sound of Jungwoo chewing the biscuit and Sushi’s breathing could be heard between them.

 

That’s when Yukhei laughs hard for no reason, cutting the awkward silence. A couple of curious glances were thrown in their way Yukhei had to muffle his fit into his hand, “Let’s put her back in the carrier!” he says, still unable to stop himself from laughing.

 

Jungwoo _tries_ to hand Sushi to his owner, except she refuses to stay still with every touch even if it’s just Yukhei’s hand touching her fur.

 

“Come on, baby! Rat! Come here!” Yukhei attempts to make her comply. She doesn’t. Yukhei had no other choice but to sigh, and then laughs at the stubborn puppy. He unzips the flap of the carrier, and motions Jungwoo to do the honors.

 

Fortunately, it doesn’t take long before Sushi gives up and chooses to behave instead (obviously, only complying because it’s Jungwoo), and they managed to put her back in the carrier without protest.

 

“Anyway, It’s nice to see you again! Almost thought you wouldn’t recognize me.” Yukhei says, once they were done and eating biscuits as they wait for the next train to arrive.

 

Jungwoo almost chokes on his Binch because of what Yukhei just said. If anything, it’s the other way around. Jungwoo didn’t actually consider that maybe Yukhei would still remember his face even though they’ve had small talk and played silly games just to kill time during subway rides for nearly two semesters. _It’s actually dumb,_ now that Jungwoo thinks of it, for him to even think Yukhei wouldn’t recognize him just because it’s been more than a month since they’ve last seen each other like this.

 

In Jungwoo’s defense, he’s had him pegged as the type to talk to strangers or just about anyone because maybe keeping his mouth shut and staying still isn’t something Yukhei is capable of. He’d thought that maybe Jungwoo’s face has drowned in the sea of faces from his daily commute with the amount of people he’s interacted with.

 

So Jungwoo can only ask, “Why wouldn’t I?”

 

“Well, it’s been awhile!” Yukhei points out. “I haven’t been to the subway because my parents visited me here for a vacation. They rented a car and hired a driver, my mom wanted to spend that time with me.”

 

Jungwoo didn’t even need to ask and Yukhei’s already feeding all that he’s been curious about.

 

“They’re in Haeundae right now that’s why I’m taking the subway again for a few days. I—” Yukhei hesitates for a moment before he continues, “Missed seeing you around.”

 

 _Pause._ Did Yukhei just—

 

“Yes.” Jungwoo blurts out.

 

“What?”

 

 _Fuck._ Jungwoo wants to bump his head on the platform screen doors until his mind stops malfunctioning, “...I missed seeing you around too?”

 

The intercom blasts music signaling the approaching train, saving Jungwoo from saying anything that would lead to further embarrassment.

 

_“The train is now approaching. Please wait beyond the yellow line.”_

 

Yukhei shoves the snacks in his backpack, “Let’s head back.”

 

***

 

The train isn’t so crowded when they enter, and they’ve managed to find an empty seat without having their shoulders be touching just so they’d be able to sit with Sushi who was suddenly quiet, resting perhaps after being so hyper upon seeing Jungwoo, in the carrier on the floor. Yukhei doesn’t even let them breathe before he whips out their Binches and talk to Jungwoo as if they’re old friends catching up on each other.

 

Jungwoo doesn’t even know where their conversation is even going anymore. Yukhei’s back must hurt for carrying the whole conversation and Jungwoo really must’ve lost it because he was concerned for a moment until he realized that it wasn’t in a literal sense. This is the most they’ve talked since they’ve been subway buddies of some sort—or at least the most Yukhei has since Jungwoo seems to be speechless more than usual.

 

It’s not his fault Jungwoo has to be cautious with how he manages to say something dumb whenever he opens his mouth, even if the only things they’ve been talking about is their university and memes. Yukhei’s even helped him with the game’s he’s been stuck with for so long now and his dog avatar’s finally found the key to free the other dog from the cage.

 

“You like puppies,” Yukhei states. It’s nothing new. Jungwoo plays dog games and his Instagram feed are mostly filled with dog posts. Even his lock screen is a photo of his dog.

 

“Yeah, I do.”

 

“Rat is my first ever puppy,” Yukhei shares. There’s a glint in his eyes, a flash of childlike innocence as if he’s suddenly turned into a six-year-old. “I mean we’ve had pet dogs before when I still lived in Hong Kong, but I was still a kid, so I didn’t really raise them myself. It’s not like Rat because I really adopted her, so I could take of her. I’m even saving up my allowance so I can pamper her more.”

 

 _That is so cute._ Yukhei talks with his whole body, he always has but Jungwoo never really noticed just how much he does so.

 

“I have a few dog toys at home,” Jungwoo hesitates, but his teeth fails to make enough of an effort to bite back his lips. “We… don’t have any pets anymore so no one uses them. I can give them to you if you want.”

 

“Really?” Yukhei doesn’t bother to conceal the excitement in his voice. “I’ll accept them if it’s for my baby.”

 

 _His baby,_ Yukhei calls Sushi his baby and maybe that was enough to make his heart melt. That doesn’t stop Jungwoo though from regretting that he’s offered not even a split-second later, and it’s not because he didn’t want to give. _He does, he really does,_ but maybe Jungwoo will just buy new ones, give them to Sushi, and keep the dog toys at home to gather dust bunnies in the storage room and under his bed.

 

Jungwoo never actually had anything in mind with how he’s supposed to give them, he could ask to meet again somehow and yet he says, “I’ll give them to Taeyong-hyung next time I drop by.”

 

“Yeah…” Yukhei absentmindedly nods before—“Wait, you know Taeyong-hyung?”

 

 _Oh._ Jungwoo never got to answer Yukhei’s question before they left the train earlier.

 

“Neopups. I go there almost every day because of Rat.” Jungwoo admits.

 

“Every day?” Yukhei scrunches his eyebrows, eyes once again giving away his disbelief, “Me too? Why don’t I see you there? I just got there to pick up Rat!”

 

Jungwoo goes there almost everyday, but he has not even once, seen him there. His own child Sushi is actually Airpods Guy’s child. It’s been weeks how is this only surfacing now. It doesn’t really hit Jungwoo just how ridiculous the whole thing is until now even though he’s known and has been talking to Yukhei for nearly half an hour now.

 

“Me too?” Jungwoo says. That was before he went to eat ice cream with Renjun. It hasn’t even been an hour since then. “I’ve been really close with Rat. I even gave her these ribbons.”

 

“Whaaaaat?” Yukhei drawls out, and there he was again with his wide eyes even rounder before they form into crescents when his lips erupt into a smile, “You’re Zeus?”

 

It’s Jungwoo’s turn to be shocked, “Eh?”

 

“Taeyong-hyung said Rat’s loyalty has diverted to someone else that’s why she’s been barking at me more often. You were giving her ribbons and treats and hyung said it was from a regular customer they had named Zeus. It makes sense now how she ran the moment I unzipped the carrier, I just wanted her to poke her head out, but then she must’ve seen you!”

 

“Taeyong-hyung told you I was Zeus?”

 

“Yeah! But why did he say Zeus when your name is Jungwoo? He specially even said Human Zeus, why?”

 

“Nothing, just been awhile since anyone called me by that nickname.” Jungwoo shrugs, “So your nickname’s really Human Sushi?”

 

“What… What Human Sushi? Just Sushi.” Yukhei clarifies, oblivious as to why Jungwoo would even call him that.

 

“Oh right,” Jungwoo lets out a _hehe_ thinking about how he really renamed someone else’s dog, made everyone else call her Sushi instead of Rat, and it coincidentally just had to be her owner’s nickname too. He resorts to catching Sushi’s attention from the carrier to stray away from the topic.

 

“If you want to come play with her I’m only one station away from where you live,” Yukhei mentions. How Jungwoo wishes really just lives one station away from him.

 

“I don’t live in Hapjeong. I take the bus from there to Gimpo.” Jungwoo corrects.

 

“Gimpo? Every day?”

 

“For nearly two hours,” Jungwoo pouts. The thought of how the rest of his commute after getting out of the subway already tires him out.

 

“Well, I’m moving next semester near the university so that’ll be more convenient. You can visit Rat then!”

 

“You’re moving?” Jungwoo says, he didn’t mean to raise his voice but it did, and Yukhei’s noticed with how he seems taken aback by his tone.

 

“Yup, with a family friend.” Yukhei nods, and as if rubbing salt to the wound he says, “You won’t see me at the subway anymore.”

 

No more subway rides. No more small talks.

 

“I’m…” Jungwoo trails off. No more silly deals about who gets to sit first whenever there’s a vacant seat. “...envious. Commuting is so tiring.”

 

“You should move too.” Yukhei suggests, adding to the list of times Jungwoo’s been told of the very same sentence the past few months.

 

No more helping Jungwoo whenever he’s stuck with a game. No more scrolling through Yukhei’s questionable choices of memes.

 

“I think I might move next semester too. I might go apartment hunting one of these days. I don’t know.” Jungwoo shrugs.

 

No more sleeping during Tuesday and Thursday mornings with the promise of someone waking him up. No more making sure he’s at the subway station at a certain time and specific entrance door.

 

Jungwoo’s reminded of what Mark Lee just said earlier about Sushi possibly not being needed to be dropped off at Neopups anymore soon. Jungwoo won’t even have any excuse to see Sushi anymore even though Yukhei did say he should go visit someday. Maybe Yukhei doesn’t even mean it. He wouldn’t know.

 

At least in the train, there’s a reason why they keep seeing each other. _Now what._

 

_“This stop is Hapjeong. Hapjeong. The doors are on your left. You may transfer—”_

 

“See you around,” Yukhei pauses, there is a slight smile resting upon his lips. “Jungwoo.” and there he was again with the suppressed laughter. _Was his name really that funny?_

 

“Eh?”

 

Yukhei shakes his head, one hand waving at him dismissively, “I just find it funny it took us this long to know each other’s names.”

 

It makes Jungwoo feel less ridiculous about how he’s been acting the past month just because he didn’t see him around the subway or campus. Jungwoo could only laugh. _It’s a relief._

 

“It was nice meeting you, Yukhei.”

 

No more Airpods Guy.

 

Jungwoo bows a bit to insert his hand inside the travel carrier on the floor, and pets Sushi who licks his hand in return. How is he going to see her now, Jungwoo no longer has an excuse to see the both of them. Jungwoo doesn’t even have Yukhei’s contacts, should he just camp out at Neopups, would he even be able to find him online. Maybe Jungwoo could ask Mark or Renjun if he’s desperate enough.

 

The train slows down before it turns into a full stop. Jungwoo stands up, nods back at Yukhei as a goodbye, and throws in a wave as well. Maybe this’ll be the last time too since the semester is ending in two weeks.

 

Jungwoo’s being overly dramatic about it. It’s not a breakup. It’s barely even anything so why is he acting like he’s never going to see him again. He’ll have plenty of other chances to meet both Yukhei and Sushi again, Jungwoo convinces himself. _Get a grip, Kim Jungwoo._

 

The cacophony of sounds of the subway serves as a reminder that Jungwoo has to go. When the doors finally open, Jungwoo fixes his backpack straps on his shoulders. Jungwoo takes one step and—

 

“Wait—” Yukhei grabs his wrist with a single gentle hand making Jungwoo halt his steps. He was staring into Jungwoo’s eyes who returns the gaze, seemingly confused. “I have something to tell you.”


	7. Chapter 7

“What is it?” Jungwoo doesn’t take this time to ask. Maybe because the train doors are going to close any second now, and he should step out already, but the truth may be found in the way he can’t seem to conceal his urgency to feed the curiosity in his mind as to what Yukhei had to say that he had to stop him from stepping out.

 

There’s a shy smile resting upon Yukhei’s cheeks before he speaks, “We kinda need another housemate.”

 

_What._

 

Jungwoo tilts his head, “Me?”

 

“No. I was talking to Rat.” Yukhei says with a straight face. Right, why would he possibly be talking about Jungwoo.

 

“Oh.” Jungwoo says. _Wait, that makes no sense._ Nothing makes sense, and sometimes he may have zero brain cells but what—Jungwoo stumbles a bit when the train started moving, and Yukhei grabs onto his other wrist to keep him balanced.

 

It’s quite a sight to see, really. Yukhei with both his hands wrapped on Jungwoo’s wrists as they stare at each other not knowing what to do. It’s almost as if they’re in a trance, their minds must’ve left at the station before the train sped up again.

 

It was Yukhei who breaks first, disconnecting his hold on Jungwoo’s wrist with a low chuckle, “I’m sorry. We should’ve gotten off first.”

 

“It’s fine. I’ll get off the next station,” Jungwoo says, taking a seat back beside Yukhei. “You get off there too, right?”

 

Yukhei nods, “Anyway, back to what I was talking about earlier. I—We have an extra room,” he pauses, as if searching for the right words.

 

“My family friend, Qian Kun… Kun-ge… I mean Kun-hyung. He—Okay, wait,” Yukhei sighs in defeat, covering his mouth shyly as he laughed to himself. _It’s adorable,_ and Jungwoo isn’t even saying anything, but he wants to shut himself up and shut his mind down. Yukhei is doing the bare minimum and yet Jungwoo still feels like stabbing his eyes out just so he doesn’t have to look at him and feel like his chest is being tickled by some imaginary feather duster.

 

Jungwoo already knows he’ll be smiling throughout the rest of the night with how hard he’s stifling his grins from showing just so his small, tiny crush won’t be too obvious. _What a loser._

 

It is seconds later when Yukhei manages to collect his thoughts, “My family friend, Qian Kun, he owns the place I am going to be renting at. He doesn’t want to rely on his parents too much, so he thought getting another housemate could help so he could use that money for other things he needs. I don’t really know and—He said if I know anyone,” Yukhei throws in a finger gun towards Jungwoo, “That would be you—Who needs a place to rent, I should let him know. The rent is even lower compared to other places in the area since Kun-ge just doesn’t want the room to go to waste and he thought extra company would be nice. You’ll get your own room and Rat is going to stay with us too! It’s perfect.”

 

Jungwoo doesn’t speak, he stares blankly at Yukhei who stares back— _wrong move,_ he panics and diverts his eyes at the dark tunnel walls forming streaks in his vision as the train speeds up. _It is perfect._ Too perfect, actually. Almost as if the gods decided to end Jungwoo’s misery and put the solution to all his problems on a silver platter and dropped it on his lap.

 

Maybe all of this is just an elaborate dream, and Jungwoo’s going to wake up at home and frustrate his mind over looming deadlines with the thought of Airpods Guy’s absence at the subway passing by his thoughts. Jungwoo digs in his nails just to check if all of this is real. The slight sting on his fingertips confirms it. _Fuck._

 

“I’ll think about it,” Jungwoo blurts out, realizing he was taking too long to reply that he just had to say something before the silence becomes awkward. The desire to scream his lungs out is overwhelming. _This is too much._ What kind of day is this, Jungwoo didn’t even know Yukhei’s name an hour ago but now he’s asking him to move in? With Sushi, his dog?

 

“Well, you can call me if you’re done thinking. Wait—Can I give you my number?” Yukhei asks.

 

“Okay.” Jungwoo says, nodding too many times than necessary. Yukhei flashes a smile at him, and Jungwoo couldn’t even control the smile creeping up on his face anymore. _Act natural, my ass._ He takes his phone out from his pocket so he could ask Yukhei to type in his contact.

 

“Oh, I just noticed you changed your phone case! But it’s still from Kakao Friends. Wow, I like Kakao Friends too. I’m more of a Ryan, though.” Yukhei says, pointing at the duck plastered at the back of his phone. His phone case is Tube, the duck. Yuta gave it to him on his birthday and Jungwoo started using it a week ago when he mentioned that he never used it. The only reason Jungwoo didn’t was because he thought it was cute until Yuta texted him later in the night saying he got him a duck phone case because _“u are a duck^^”_ and said it would match with his look. Jungwoo has never been more confused in his life.

 

“Yeah, I like Kakao Friends. Apeach is my favorite!” Jungwoo says, handing his phone over to Yukhei who takes it and types away.

 

“I can tell!” Yukhei says, “We should take a contact photo!”

 

 _What._ Jungwoo couldn’t even protest (not like he was planning on it) when Yukhei already positioned his phone to capture the selfie. Jungwoo puts on a smile, he looks like he’s either constipated or being held at gunpoint to take it when it’s the exact opposite of those. He isn’t even sure if he’s still breathing at this point, and he’s thankful Yukhei held the phone because otherwise his hands would’ve been too shaky to even take a photo.

 

_“This stop is Hongik University. Hongik University. The doors are on your left. You may transfer—”_

 

“Oh, this is us.” Yukhei returns the phone to Jungwoo, before gripping on the travel carrier on the floor. Jungwoo almost forgot Sushi was with them. “Let’s go?”

 

They get off once it halts at the station, and it’s almost as if on cue when Sushi started fumbling in the carrier. Jungwoo could actually climb up and out with Yukhei and take the bus from here, but he isn’t too familiar with the area so he’d rather not. That’s why they sit down on a nearby bench on the other side to wait for the train to arrive. Sushi was still wilding, frantic movements causing the carrier to look like it has a life of its own.

 

Yukhei leans down and unzips the carrier by a bit, just enough for Sushi to poke her little head out. “Do you want to say goodbye to Jungwoo?”

 

Sushi didn’t even need to answer the question (not like she could, anyway) with the way she turned to look at Jungwoo the moment she had her head out, completely brushing off Yukhei who could only fake a sigh then laugh. Yukhei makes sure he has Sushi secured in his hand, before he unzips the flap even further enough for him to carry her to Jungwoo.

 

“Baby~” Jungwoo coos, as Sushi licks his fingers.

 

Yukhei brings out his phone, “Can I record you two? I’ll send it to my mom. She was wondering why Rat started barking at me and now we know why!”

 

“I’m sorry?” Jungwoo nods and laughs as he does so, much to preoccupied with petting Sushi to react in any other way.

 

“Nah, I would bark at me too if I were Rat. Don’t worry.”

 

The intercom plays the Seoul Metro jingle indicating the approaching train.

 

“Cute,” Yukhei mumbles, squealing at the sight in a teasing tone. He puts his phone down, probably done recording. Sushi is indeed cute. Jungwoo would squeal too. The train was already by the doors when Jungwoo hands Sushi over to Yukhei. Surprisingly, Sushi relaxes in Yukhei’s hold without much protest unlike earlier.

 

“Bye, bye!” Jungwoo says, rubbing the underside of Sushi’s chin.

 

The subway doors open. It’s his cue to leave unless Jungwoo wants another repeat of what happened earlier.

 

“Just text me if you’re interested with the extra room and we can meet at Neopups when we’re free since you always go there. You know, to play with Rat. Only if you want to, though.” Yukhei offers, his hand running on Sushi’s fur as he talked. The puppy looking tinier than she already is in comparison to his hands.

 

“I want to,” It slips out, and Jungwoo plays it off with a smile.

 

“See you then.” Yukhei waves him goodbye, and Jungwoo steps inside the train. Not long after the subway doors close, and Jungwoo leans on the side of the seat. His eyes still peaking outside where Yukhei had the widest grin on his face, waving Sushi’s paw as if saying goodbye. Jungwoo manages to wave back, before the train speeds up and Jungwoo could only stare at the reflection of his face on the glass, goofy smile plastered on his face.

 

***

 

There are names to Airpods Guy’s face now—Yukhei, Xuxi, Lucas—whichever he prefers but there’s too many to pick from, and choosing Airpods Guy was easier when the only other choice was Ratthew. It’s odd, really. Not only does Airpods Guy have a name, he also has a puppy and an extra room in an apartment where Jungwoo may or may not be living in by next semester.

 

Suddenly, life is great. The bus ride back home consisted of him staring at the selfie they took half of the time and when he’s walking back home, it’s almost like Jungwoo’s leaving a trail of sunshine and rainbows with every step he does. He’s already skipping on the way and the amount of positive energy he emits would probably make him cringe on any other day. _It’s disgusting,_ but Jungwoo lets himself bask in it just because he waited for this in so long no matter how much he tries not to admit it.

 

Of course, the inerasable smile Jungwoo had on his face did not escape Jisung and Chenle when he turns up at the Park residence, and the closest thing they’ve done to studying is Jungwoo setting up his laptop in front of him as he asked Jisung about his homework before Chenle not so subtly said, “Hyung your smile is scaring us and we are a hundred percent sure it has something to do with Airpods Guy.”

 

And so they were back at it again, school books and papers scattered on the table served as props and decoration and the tutoring session has turned into another episode of him narrating _Life as Kim Jungwoo: Subway Edition._ Jisung’s slack-jawed once Jungwoo was done blabbing about the whole thing, and Chenle had been biting his lip throughout trying not to cut him off midway because Jungwoo said he would stop talking if any of them would interrupt.

 

“I don’t know what to say, hyung. It’s like you guys went from not knowing each other’s names for months and then the next day you’re both parents and raising a daughter together,” Jisung points out.

 

“Just say puppy, why do you have to say daughter?” Jungwoo whines, “And I just got his number so I could contact him about the extra room, what parents are you talking about?”

 

Chenle nudges Jisung, “He took your advice to get his number, Jisung-ah. We should charge him for that.”

 

Jisung covers the side of his mouth, head turned towards Chenle, “How much should we charge him?” That was definitely _not_ a whisper.

 

“Hey!” Jungwoo protests, but the both of them ignore it.

 

Chenle then covers a hand at the side of his mouth as if to whisper something in Jisung’s ear, “Hyung moves fast, Jisung-ah. He was just pretending to be a loser at flirting for nine months when he’s secretly got game… A Casanova.” _Again,_ not a whisper. Jisung looks at Jungwoo and nods in agreement.

 

“Lele?” Jungwoo says, purposefully pronouncing it wrong. His voice is calm as he tilts his head.

 

“Kim Jungwoo-hyung~” Chenle singsongs, “My favorite hyung! _Itwasajoke. Pleasedon’tkillme._ ”

 

Jungwoo rolls his eyes.

 

Jisung leans in and asks, “So when are you moving in?”

 

“Yukhei just offered the extra room. That doesn’t mean I’m moving in already.”

 

“Hyung, you’re so smart but sometimes I wonder if you really do only have like one brain cell,” Jisung says, brave of him to say that when he’s the one who once stuck his hand in a pot of boiling water to check if it was hot enough (It was indeed, _more than hot enough_ ).

 

Jungwoo rests a hand on his cheek, eyes blank on the keyboard for no particular reason, “I don’t really know. Maybe I’ll miss home, and you two. Who’s going to tutor the both of you?”

 

Truthfully, the offer is tempting, but Jungwoo isn’t so sure if he’s ready to move out again. It’s been a year since he moved out of his shared dorm room with Doyoung, and him leaving made Doyoung move out too at the last minute. It was only fortunate that Jaehyun was looking for a roommate at that time so the guilt wasn’t as bad as it initially had been when Jungwoo moved out.

 

Jungwoo didn’t get to talk to Doyoung for almost two months until their group of friends staged an intervention and both of them were too tired with the silent treatment from both sides that when they made up, it was almost like it never happened. It was quite the trouble, then. Of course, it would be when Doyoung didn’t expect it at all. How could he when Jungwoo was talking about buying essential oils for their humidifier just the day before he said he’s moving back home to Gimpo without a proper explanation or warning.

 

Jungwoo could only blame himself, of course. He had reasons that he explained to Doyoung, he missed his family, his dog (he still does), and that he wanted to spend more time with them while he still can before his academic workload would inevitably pile up once freshman year is over. The words bled white, and Jungwoo supposed it may not be the entire truth, but some things were better left unspoken.

 

“I take it back, hyung. You don’t have one brain cell. Maybe you have zero brain cells.” Jisung rectifies, hands frantic as he tries to get his point across, “That’s the perfect life! You have Airpods guy and a cute puppy in one house close to the university! He even said the rent is lower than usual! What more do you want!”

 

Jungwoo did think of all of those earlier, but it’s like he’s being slapped in the face at how stupid it is to decline the offer when Jisung says it out loud. Maybe Jisung and Chenle really are his voice of reason, and never did Jungwoo realize he’d have two high school kids give him unsolicited advice with his life decisions.

 

“I think hyung wants him to fetch him in a limo and tell him to move in.” Chenle suggests.

 

“No,” Jisung shakes his head, before bursting into a fit of laughter over something he just thought of but couldn’t say clearly with how hard he’s cackling. “Maybe hyung wants him to rent out the whole subway, so that when he opens the door, there’s Airpods Guy with a whole train behind him.”

 

Jisung and Chenle have lost _it._ Jisung was on the floor and Jungwoo didn’t even know it was possible for a human to make the sounds Chenle makes with his laughter. Maybe this is the sense of humor Jungwoo have lost with age, or perhaps it just isn’t as funny when he’s the one being clowned.

 

It didn’t seem like Jisung and Chenle would stop laughing anytime soon, and so Jungwoo pulled out his phone. There’s a text message from an unknown number.

 

_u os adake u fahink ficu ocouxlc cfoold ppeopl intfo sdthinkgsd cincebt u if sdfksd ebter_

 

Jungwoo furrows his eyebrows at the message. It’s from an unknown number. Maybe it’s a drunk text. Of course, it’s a drunk text. Jungwoo can’t even begin to decipher the message. It is a Friday, and he knows some of his classmates are out drinking before hell week commences.

 

Finally, they calm down a bit, and Jisung climbs up from his position on the floor to take his seat back, “I can’t do this anymore, Jungwoo hyung just say yes. You could just Facetime us, online tutoring!”

 

“Oh, wow. Jisung-ah, that’s a nice idea. We can screen record and sell his tutoring videos.”

 

“I’ll edit the videos while you spread the word?”

 

“We can make Jungwoo-hyung smile and flirt with the camera all the time. Everyone’s a sucker for those. This is going to hit big.” Chenle says to himself excitedly as if Jungwoo himself isn’t in the room. “Let’s split the shares, fifty-fifty.”

 

“I’m right here.”

 

“You heard us.” they both say in sync. _Kids these days._

 

“I’m not going to smile and flirt at the camera while I try to make you two study!” Jungwoo asserts, “Also, someone already offered first and I said I’d think about it. I’ll message first then—”

 

“Hyung, you are so dumb.” Jisung interrupts, “Just move in. Stop acting like you didn’t want to say yes right then and there.”

 

“And you once put condoms in the grocery cart because you thought they were candy. We are both dumb in our own ways,” Jungwoo could only argue, it’s _ad hominem_ or whatever, but he doesn’t know what else to say. Jungwoo can’t even deny it because Jisung isn’t exactly wrong, but no one needs to know that. He snatches one of the books in front of them, maybe this is a good time to actually start studying.

 

“You did that too when you were younger! Your sister told me!” Jisung argues, Chenle cackles at that and the both of them laugh so hard it fills the room with dolphin noises. _Damn._ Jungwoo can never win.

 

Jungwoo stands up and taps the book on both Jisung and Chenle’s backs, halting the laughing session before they both end up on the floor again, “Let’s go back to studying, shall we?”

 

***

 

Contrary to what Chenle and Jisung may be thinking, Jungwoo’s life doesn’t revolve around Airpods Guy—who is now Wong Yukhei. Jungwoo doesn’t live in the train when he barely even spends thirty or so minutes at Seoul Subway Line 2 twice a day, and he only gets to stay for a long time at Neopups when he can do something for school there during the afternoon with Sushi on his lap as he worked.

 

Jungwoo’s mind is mostly being consumed by school. He has to make sure that he isn’t going to fail any of his classes this semester even though with his current class standing, he can actually afford to fuck up and still pass. Though of course, there is no room to be complacent when Jungwoo is trying to bring his grades up higher than they already are.

 

It’s better this way anyway, it’s much easier to distract himself with his academic workload more than anything else. Sometimes in the little time Jungwoo gets to sleep in the night, he doesn’t sleep because his thoughts are being spilled all over the room—his messed up body clock, the least of his worries on those nights. It’s why he doesn’t like having free time in which he has nothing left to do.

 

Which is why no matter how stressful things are, Jungwoo set his focus on working on his Finals project over the weekend because it’s just about the most important submission in this semester and there is no room for failure if he works hard enough. He has a group presentation on Monday too, but he’d rather not think of it too much and make himself much too nervous than necessary.

 

By the time it’s three am on Monday, Jungwoo’s already made a mental note at the back of his mind that he’s going to ask Renjun about whoever it is that’s looking for a roommate, then he’d ask Yukhei about the extra room. There could be Doyoung and Jaehyun’s room too since he sleeps over quite often, and they’ve been hinting that they wouldn’t mind letting Jungwoo be a third roommate, but it’ll be quite a squeeze, and they’ve never explicitly asked Jungwoo about it, and he doesn’t have it in him to ask about it first. Jungwoo still isn’t quite sure yet, but he’d weigh his options in later on.

 

It is with grogginess, when Jungwoo wakes up to his alarm a few hours later. As per usual, there’s the usual good morning message from Doyoung sitting in his inbox.

 

**Doyoungie-hyung ♡**

_Fighting today jungwoo! You can do it._ **_♡_ **

 

 _You can do it,_ Jungwoo reminds himself as he steps out of the house and starts his walk towards the bus stop. Just two more weeks and the semester will be over, and he can finally rest (hopefully). Jungwoo puts on his earphones and closes his eyes once he’s seated at the bus. It’s nine or ten songs, and he can rest his eyes and manage not to fall asleep as long as he listens to heavy metal.

 

Once he’s in the train, Jungwoo’s reminded of the presentation he has today, it’s by group again but it’s not as bad as the last time and the people in his group have cooperated. He has another one by the end of the week but it’s an oral defense. Jungwoo’s already feeling a bit shaky at the thought, and he tries to shrug it away by using his phone.

 

He opens Twitter and decides this may be a good time to ask Renjun about the friend he knew who needed a roommate. Then Jungwoo goes to his contacts and scrolls down to where Yukhei saved himself as “rat’s dad from seoul subway line 2!!”

 

It takes Jungwoo five or so minutes to come up with a decent message to send.

 

_hi yukhei this is jungwoo from seoul subway line 2_

 

_the one w the dick phone case^^_

 

_duck**_

 

Jungwoo is so embarrassing.

 

He winces upon realizing his mistake. All that typing and Jungwoo still managed to mess up. _No, please._ Jungwoo attempts to put his phone on Airplane Mode as if that would even do anything when the message is already sent. He closes his eyes as he purses his lips. _Maybe this isn’t too bad,_ Jungwoo convinces himself.

 

It only takes a two minutes and a half for Yukhei to reply (not that Jungwoo had been counting).

 

**rat’s dad from seoul subway line 2!!**

_yo jungwoo!! wow u have an interesting taste in phone case designs…_

 

 _This is bad._ Jungwoo might as well throw himself out of the window, he was just about to but then another message from Yukhei pops up.

 

_im kidding haha whats up_

 

Jungwoo texts, ‘ _do you have pics of the place? im still not sure if i would take it but i just wanted to see how the apartment looks like’_

 

Yukhei doesn’t text back throughout the subway ride, and Jungwoo’s busied himself by going over the script he made for himself for the presentation later as he went by the rest of his commute.

 

“Jungwoo!” Sooyoung, their group leader for the presentation today calls for him as soon as he steps inside the room. The rest of his group mates were going through their parts. You can do this, Jungwoo convinces himself. He sits down with the rest of them where they’re gathered as they go through the flow of the presentation. _Breathe._ He’s already prepared himself enough for this over the weekend and—Jungwoo flinches at the sudden touch of his shoulder. The struggle not to scowl was difficult when he sees it’s one of his group mates whose parts he had to fill in because he couldn’t be reached a few weeks ago.

 

“Let’s talk later.” he says, but before Jungwoo could even respond, Professor No struts inside the room and asks one of the groups to start with their presentation already. His classmate takes a seat elsewhere, and Jungwoo takes a deep breath and goes over the presentation slides one last time.

 

***

 

“Good work today,” Sooyoung tells Jungwoo as they pack up their things. Jungwoo isn’t even sure if she’s being sincere when Jungwoo messed up by a bit when he forgot what he had to say that Sooyoung had to nudge him and whisper his first point of discussion, _“The Einstein Tower may seem phallic, but the form is actually based on Einstein’s theories.”_

 

Jungwoo just smiles and says, “You too.” he then unlocks his phone and opens twitter. There’s a reply from Renjun already.

 

**renjun**

**@7xkxkxck**

_Oh it’s actually sushi’s owner!! my friend his name is Wong Yukhei. there’ll be 3 of you in one unit. they aren’t urgently looking for a housemate unless its anyone they know that’s why they dont have pics of the place and actual details abt it in case they find someone. but i don’t think they will mind because you are friends with taeyong-hyung and sushi!!_

 

_Do you want his contact number? i’m not sure if you get a solo room or you’ll share, but you can ask my friend for more details about it._

 

 _What._ Jungwoo reads and re-reads the messages in case he was reading it wrong, but his eyes weren’t betraying him. It’s actually quite stupid that it didn’t occur to Jungwoo that maybe it was Yukhei, Renjun was referring to. He’s well aware that they were friends yet the thought didn’t even cross his mind. Both options he’d been considering in case he wanted to live nearer the university were just the same thing. _Wow._

 

Jungwoo closes the Twitter app without bothering a reply. There’s a couple of messages from Yukhei he hasn’t read since he stopped checking his messages.

 

**rat’s dad from seoul subway line 2!!**

_ahh!! sorry for the late reply!! i dont have any pics of the place :-( wait i’ll ask kun-ge but i doubt if he’s awake rn_

 

_he’s not replying ;;;;;;;;; he probably stayed up too late watching conspiracy theory vids lol_

 

_i’ll update u abt kun-ge’s sleeping status once i hear from him haha_

 

_rat says hi btw_

 

There’s a photo attached blow sent with an Invisible Ink effect, and Jungwoo amuses himself by tapping repeatedly on the photo. It’s a photo of Sushi in the car and Jungwoo boops on Sushi’s nose repeatedly on the photo. Jungwoo only stops his booping session when the three dots below started moving up and down indicating that Yukhei was typing.

 

**rat’s dad from seoul subway line 2!!**

_hello!! are u free rn?? im actlly in neopups rn w rat!! kun-ge jwu and said he could take pics of the unit i can show them to u if u are free if not i can just send u pics later_

 

_btw rat says she misses u :-( hahaha_

 

There’s another photo of Sushi, but this time, Yukhei was in the photo with a fake pout resting on his lips. _Long press. Save._ Jungwoo can already here Chenle and Jisung mocking him in his head. He then slings his backpack behind him, walks out of the classroom, and down out of the college building. He sends in a message before slipping his phone back in his jeans pocket.

 

_i’m free rn!! just got out of class i’ll be there at neopups in 10 min!!^^_


	8. Chapter 8

Jungwoo never really realized just how much their conversations relied on small talk until now.

 

It’s odd seeing and talking to Airpods Guy— _Yukhei,_ outside of public transport. It’s odd in it itself that there was a name attached to the person who had been a part of his commuting pastime when it had always been just Airpods Guy for almost a year. Jungwoo never really considered that one day they’d be sitting face to face like this with a cute puppy on top of the table, passing around compliments like it’s a game and the first one to run out of ideas would lose.

 

_(“Nice shoes.”_

 

_“Nice hair.”_

 

_“Nice teeth.”_

 

_“Nice puppy.”)_

 

 _It’s so horribly awkward,_ even more so than that one time Jungwoo forgot to hold onto a handle right before the train sped up, and he ended up losing balance and falling on Yukhei who caught him, but also bumped into someone behind him—who also bumped into someone behind him and so on and so forth. It was almost like some sort of Human Domino Event at Seoul Subway Line 2.

 

Now that Jungwoo thinks of it, each and every meeting they’ve had seemed like a twenty-minute Awkward and Embarrassing Moments Compilation on YouTube. If truth be told, if Jungwoo would have to list his Top Ten Most Embarrassing Moments the past year, eight of those would probably involve any tomfoolery he’s had with Airpods Guy. It’s a long list really, but even then they still somehow figure out how to outdo themselves every single time. They just never learn.

 

Maybe Jungwoo could have made an excuse saying he had something else to do even though it’s just going home and packing his stuff up to sleep over the whole week at Doyoung and Jaehyun’s place then tutoring Jisung and Chenle in the evening while working on his project.

 

Anything is probably better than sitting here, waiting for their food to arrive, and forgetting how to function like a normal human being.

 

(To be fair, Jungwoo figures sleep deprivation and stress from school has greatly contributed as to why this meeting is so—well, awkward. Jisung and Chenle would disagree. “It’s just you being you, hyung.” they would say.)

 

“How’s school for you? Finals are coming up next week and I haven’t studied at all.” Yukhei brings up while laughing, an attempt to salvage their conversation leading nowhere.

 

“Stressed a bit.” Jungwoo admits, “It’s design submissions week. It’s more stressful than Finals week, to be honest.”

 

It’s so brave to say, yet so controversial, but Exams Week are nothing compared to the week before that in his college. When they have to rush in deadlines after deadlines that once they’re all done, no one worries about departmental exams as much as they should have soon as they collapse on the bed after pulling much too many all-nighters. Jungwoo’s even seen several who turned up at the scheduled time to answer the tests buzzed with alcohol. College students really are a different breed.

 

“What’s it about?” Yukhei asks, as if he’s genuinely curious. Jungwoo usually doesn’t divulge in it because it’s nothing glamorous.

 

It’s just a toxic working process with questionable living habits that are uncontrollable for a week. He’s once went four days without showering and that’s a lot, considering Jungwoo can’t stand filth. Jungwoo doesn’t even know how he’d survive if Doyoung wasn’t there to shove food in his mouth because sometimes he’d forget he hasn’t eaten anything all day. Doyoung even hides their coffee machine (he doesn’t even like coffee) and stash of energy drinks when he’s had a bit too much caffeine in his system.

 

And Jaehyun is just there to get him a taro smoothie (even if it’s his favorite drink, and not Jungwoo’s), sometimes snacks and instant ramen much to Doyoung’s dismay who always nags to make him buy real food next time (which he never does).

 

Overall, it’s stressful to even think about, and it happens three times a semester. So he settles with talking about it objectively.

 

“Oh, well for our design project this time we have to design a walk-up apartment.”

 

“You study Architecture?” Yukhei’s eyes were wide as he says this. “Ah. That explains why you sometimes have those tiny buildings with you!” He makes gestures with his hands outlining building forms. Jungwoo never really considered Yukhei would even remember such a trivial detail.

 

“Scaled models.” Jungwoo tells him.

 

Yukhei adds, “And why you always fall asleep in the train I had to wake you up every time.”

 

“Yeah,” Jungwoo laughs. He even once woke up with his head on Yukhei’s shoulder. Jungwoo jolted awake when he realized it then, which was preceded by him bumping his head on a metal pole. Smooth, indeed. “Thank you for that.”

 

“I do Sports Science.” Yukhei says. “Kun-ge, he studies Music! Music Theory, to be exact. Though he’s on leave from school right now and working on an internship of some sort.”

 

“Nice…” Jungwoo trails off. Damn, there’s nothing but blank in his mind. Perhaps, Jungwoo really is the reason for his own downfall. “Nice Major.”

 

There he goes again.

 

“Thanks…” Yukhei raises both his eyebrows for a split-second with a smile. He throws a finger gun at Jungwoo, “You too. Nice design project.”

 

And… they’re back to being awkward after that.

 

Salvation comes in the form of Lee Taeyong shouting “Sushi!” most likely as soon as Taeil has informed him that Jungwoo was here after taking their order, interrupting his mandatory Animal Crossings break at the backroom. Jungwoo has never been more thankful to see his pink-haired hyung until now. It isn’t until he’s slipped himself beside Jungwoo, did he notice who he had been sitting with.

 

“Wait, you guys know each other?” Taeyong says, pointing at the both of them in confusion.

 

“Hyung!” Yukhei greets, beaming. “Since when did you start calling me Sushi?”

 

Taeyong shakes his head, “No, I was talking to Rat.”

 

“Rat is… Sushi?” Yukhei’s taken aback. _Fuck,_ he forgot about that. “You named Rat something else behind my back? Sushi? My nickname?”

 

“It was Jungwoo who did!” Taeyong is quick to say. Yukhei turns to look at him. Jungwoo had no defense, it’s not like he knew it was his nickname before he came up with it.

 

“It’s the collar!” he says, pointing at the collar wound around Sushi’s neck. Jungwoo lets out a _hehe,_ now is a good time to change the topic. “So the place?”

 

“Oh, right!” Yukhei zips his bag open and takes an iPad out and unlocks it.

 

“Wait, what place?” Taeyong asks, beyond confused. He leans in, both arms on the low table.

 

“I’m convincing Jungwoo to move in with my friend and I next semester.” Yukhei doesn’t even bother to look away from fiddling with the tablet, probably looking for the photos Kun took of the apartment.

 

Taeyong turns to Jungwoo, “Aren’t you moving in with Doyoung and Jaehyun?” Jungwoo furrows his eyebrows. This is the first time he’s hearing this. Jungwoo wanted to move in, but it’s not like there would be any space for him (or that they seriously wanted him there).

 

“What?” Jungwoo clarifies, “I’m sleeping over, not moving in.”

 

“But—” Taeyong stops himself midway before shaking his head, “Never mind. This is so weird. How do you two even know each other? By the way Lucas, he’s the Zeus I said Rat has fallen for.”

 

“Yeah, Jungwoo already told me.” Yukhei says. “We take the train together. It’s been ten months, I think.”

 

“You know both Mark and Lucas? Damn, how many more people I know do you know?” Taeyong is slack-jawed, nodding as if impressed at the image of Jungwoo being a social butterfly even though that isn’t exactly true. “And now you guys are going to be housemates? This is a kind of development I did not expect. Does Doyoung even know this?”

 

Jungwoo whines, “Why are you mentioning Doyoung-hyung?”

 

Taeyong shrugs, “He’s your boyfriend but also like both your parents combined. Doesn’t he know everything about your life?”

 

Jungwoo takes it back, he isn’t thankful Taeyong came over at their table.

 

“That would make you my parent too since you guys are married and all,” Jungwoo teases, “Hi mom.”

 

Taeyong mocks a laugh before putting on a straight face, “Alright, that’s enough. I’ll be going back to the backroom. My town needs me,” he stands up. “Oh, and tell Dongyoung to stop calling me. I’m not picking up his calls.”

 

“What happened?”

 

Taeyong shrugs, “I don't know. Ask Jaehyun.”

 

He coos at Sushi for a few seconds before he waves at them and walks away. Disappearing once again to the backroom, leaving Jungwoo to wonder what is going on in their friend group. Most of the time Jungwoo doesn’t even know what they’re up to.

 

“How’d you know Mark?” Yukhei asks, taking Jungwoo’s attention back to him.

 

“We shared some classes last semester.”

 

Yukhei chuckles, “Why is the world so small?”

 

“I wonder as well.”

 

“Anyway!” Yukhei claps his hands once before he makes the tablet stand with the smart case, placing it at the center of the table right beside where Sushi is lying down on. “Back to the apartment.”

 

“Shall we begin the presentation?” Yukhei says, fixing the imaginary tie on his neck. Jungwoo laughs, nodding before Yukhei starts swiping through the photos.

 

 _Unit 1902._ It’s a corner unit and has big windows. There’s an open plan for the common living spaces—really spacious. Even the extra room he’s going to be staying in (if he pushes through with it) is just as big as his room at home. It’s definitely something more than the average college student could afford to live in. Getting his own room in a place like this with the rent they’re offering him is like hitting the jackpot. Jungwoo would actually be stupid to turn down the offer at this point now.

 

“Ah! Why’d he sent selfies?” Yukhei reacts explosively when he swipes and instead of more photos the apartment unit, it’s a selfie of a guy—Kun, holding up a peace sign with a smile. “This is Kun-hyung! Now I have to show them to you too. Isn’t he handsome?”

 

Jungwoo nods. Yukhei shrugs, laughing to himself. Cocking his head to the side he says, “Of course. I’m more handsome, though.”

 

“What about me? Am I handsome too?” _What the fuck_ did he just say. Jungwoo fights the urge not to make it too obvious that the words slipped out before his brain could even process it. It is yet again, another entry to The Times Kim Jungwoo Should Have Kept His Mouth Shut But Didn’t (2018).

 

“You too. You too.” Yukhei says, cooing, “So handsome.”

 

“Okay.” Jungwoo laughs it off. _No big deal._ He isn’t even sure if he should be thankful or regret that he’s forgotten to turn on his word filter a split-second.

 

Yukhei just _cracks up,_ all of a sudden and Jungwoo follows with him. Cackling so hard they’ve caught stares from the other patrons nearby. Even Sushi seems startled. Jungwoo isn’t even so sure why they’re laughing. _What a mess._

 

Once they’ve calmed down, Yukhei states a rundown of details about the apartment, he goes about it deliberately as if he’s a real estate broker for comedic effect and Jungwoo plays along.

 

“Can I visit the place?” Jungwoo asks after a while. It’s going to be excruciatingly _awkward,_ and Jungwoo doesn’t even know how many times the word awkward itself is going to pop up in his mind before they get past this phase even if it’s been nine months. It really is odd, since Jungwoo is actually comfortable enough to not cave in and run away when it feels like they already know each other if the definition itself meant being aware of each other’s tiny little habits. That should be enough.

 

Yukhei lets out a chuckle and looks away for a second before making eye contact. It’s so _adorable,_ Jungwoo could only manage a lopsided smile back before breaking the gaze. It’s really curious as to why Yukhei hasn’t caught on when he’s _this_ obvious. He could feel the blood rush up to his cheeks, and he distracts himself. Trying not to draw too much attention to himself by pulling Sushi and petting him.

 

Right, if they’re going to be housemates. Jungwoo has to do something to kill that _small, tiny_ crush of his. It’s just awk— _Stop._ Yukhei extends his hand over the table, settling it on Sushi and for a split-second their hands touch and Jungwoo fights the urge not to act like he isn’t being electrocuted. This isn’t high school, why is he acting like such a kid?

 

Yukhei says after a few more seconds of silence, “Let’s set a date.”

 

***

 

It is a Tuesday evening in the Doyoung and Jaehyun household. Doyoung’s taken a sip from the chocolate drink he’s taken from the fridge and Jaehyun’s lying down on his bed watching a something on YouTube, there are crop circles on the screen and Jungwoo supposes it’s another conspiracy theory video. Aliens truly are more interesting than the pile of handouts he’s supposed to be studying.

 

“Taeyong-hyung told me to tell you not to call him.” is what Jungwoo says, as soon as he’s done fixing his stuff, and has settled himself on the floor cross-legged to work on the coffee table with his laptop.

 

Doyoung chokes on said drink upon hearing Jungwoo, and maybe it isn’t such a good time to bring it up.

 

“What a petty bastard.” Doyoung finally says, wiping away the few drops of the chocolate drink at the side of his mouth. He sits right in front of Jungwoo at the coffee table where he has books and handouts scattered as well.

 

“What happened?”

 

Doyoung shrugs, “Nothing important.”

 

“Ah, right. Of course, you won’t answer,” Jungwoo turns to someone who could actually enlighten him, “Jaehyunnie-hyung?”

 

Jaehyun starts laughing, boisterous enough that he actually had to pause the video. Doyoung is not at all pleased. “This weekend, he flooded Doyoung-hyung’s inbox because Taeyong-hyung wanted to go shopping. Doyoung-hyung was busy so he said No. Then he asked me, and I said No too. He’s been ignoring Doyoung-hyung since then.”

 

“Some people are trying to get an education. It’s not like I’m on leave from school like him!” Doyoung excuses, ruffling his hair in frustration. “And why is he only mad at me and not Jaehyun?”

 

“I turned him down politely.” Jaehyun points out, “You picked his call up once and shouted ‘No’ like a hundred times before hanging up.”

 

Jungwoo is not at all surprised. It seems like a very Doyoung thing to do if the other person on the line is Lee Taeyong.

  
“I was fussing over looking for people to interview for some group work. Okay, I was stressed!” Doyoung groans, he takes a glance at the wall right behind Jungwoo. “I’m even more stressed now because of the damn loud neighbors.”

 

The walls were thin enough to hear Michael Jackson sing that Billie Jean is not his lover (she’s just a girl who says he is the one, but the kid is not his son!). The sound permeates loud enough for Doyoung to stand up and start knocking on the wall to tell them off. It is definitely not the first time this has happened. Their neighbors have always been loud.

 

(“Typical freshman behavior.” Both Doyoung and Jaehyun had said. They don't even know for sure if they’re freshmen. It was just a hunch.)

 

Doyoung’s petty ass would blast Jaehyun’s Best of Calvin Harris playlist later at three a.m. when they’re already silent and most likely sleeping—just out of spite.

 

“You seem stressed.” Doyoung states once his back to the coffee table and observing Jungwoo’s current state with a trace of worry in his eyes.

 

Jungwoo’s eyes are lined with bags, because he _is_ stressed, from school and a lot of other things too. Jungwoo’s received more sketchy messages from the same unknown number the last time. It freaked him out for a bit, and if it really is just another one of his classmate’s playing silly prank, then now isn’t just a good time when he has to juggle between working on his projects and going over presentations he’s never learned how to go about.

 

There’s not much time left for him to even worry or rant so Jungwoo settles with saying, “I am.” before redirecting his attention to the computer screen back to work.

 

“If you need help I can go out and buy you something from Gong Cha downstairs.” Jaehyun offers. How kind of him, _woah._ “Do you want snacks? I would drop studying to go to a nearby GS25 and buy them for you.”

 

“You aren’t even studying,” Doyoung rolls his eyes, “Watch him panic next week when he realizes he doesn’t know anything about his exam’s coverage.”

 

“I’ll still ace them,” Jaehyun shrugs, resuming the video which is now flashing… a party of dancing aliens.

 

“Only because you cram and memorize everything and focus so much on it that you don’t care about anything else. And who would be there to actually make sure you won’t do anything stupid because you think you can fit in so much information in that head of yours in one night and still function like a normal human being… for every night in one week?” Doyoung reminds him. Jaehyun stills not being able to say anything because it’s true. Doyoung once stopped him from using toothpaste as a shampoo once. “Right, me.”

 

“You do that with Jungwoo and you don’t nag about it as much as you do with me!” Jaehyun complains. Suddenly, they’re in the middle of a familial quarrel. “This is blatant favoritism… and I live here.”

 

“I’m the son. You’re the husband. There’s a difference.” Jungwoo says with a straight-face.

 

“Jungwoo!” Doyoung whines. Jaehyun’s cackling once again, Jungwoo too and the Doyoung’s the only one left who doesn’t find it amusing.

 

Jaehyun turns to look at Jungwoo, “It’s so true. Next semester once you actually start living here, it’ll be like you’re still living with your parents again. Maybe even worse. It may seem cute since you don’t have to deal with it every day. Doyoung’s maternal instincts have gotten worse in case you haven’t noticed.”

 

Doyoung chokes on his milk once again.

 

“Hey, Jung Jaehyun!” he bursts, throwing a highlighter over Jaehyun’s direction.

 

“What?” Jungwoo asks, not quite processing the situation just yet.

 

“I mean, I did say I miss having you as my roommate…” Doyoung trails off, pausing then looking away at Jungwoo. There he is again, acting shy even though of all people Jungwoo knew, he’s the one with the snarky mouth except in unexpected situations much like this.

 

“You want us three to be roommates?”

 

Jaehyun left his spot on the bed to sit beside Doyoung, which only further confirms that this isn’t a joke. They’re both looking at Jungwoo expectantly from across the table, and it’s like they’re in some sort of formal meeting he was not informed of.

 

Jaehyun leans in, “Aren’t you already our third roommate at this point?”

 

Jungwoo could only manage a nod.

 

Doyoung continues, “It’s just—We just thought about it and it’s not like we haven’t already hinted it. Just… If you’ve made up your mind yet about moving next semester. Then our room is big enough for another bed if you wanted to room with us.”

 

Jungwoo’s wanted—have always wanted to actually live with them all semester especially with how his commuting hours are impossible, because the space may be a little cramped with the three of them but it works. Even way back just a few months after Jungwoo’s moved out of his and Doyoung’s dorm room. Jungwoo’s missed him _so much,_ he never actually realized how much he depended on Doyoung until he’s had to live without again. Jaehyun used to spend his breaks in-between classes mostly in their shared room, and he had been the third roommate then.

 

They’re the closest friends Jungwoo’s first made in college, and they’re friends even until now. That’s why he doesn’t even feel unwelcome when they’ve always been first to open their door to him when they know Jungwoo would need to stay over just so he doesn’t have to worry about commuting when his workload is far too much. That’s why he’s always wished that maybe the three of them could be roommates.

 

Jungwoo just never thought they would ask.


	9. Chapter 9

_ “Aren’t you moving in with Doyoung and Jaehyun?” _

 

Taeyong’s voice resonates in Jungwoo’s mind and how he dismissed it as if he’s caught himself saying something he shouldn’t have. Even then Doyoung has mentioned several times that he missed having him as a roommate and the sudden inquiries from their friend group about his plans of moving back near the university is suspicious. There were more perhaps, if Jungwoo digs in his mind even further. The semester is ending in a week or so and Jungwoo wouldn’t even have known if Jaehyun didn’t slip. It’s like they’ve all assumed Jungwoo would undoubtedly say yes.

 

And he would have.

 

“So what do you think?” Doyoung asks.

 

“I don’t think he likes the idea.”

 

“No,” Jungwoo snaps out of his reverie. “It isn’t that… it’s just—Just that I’ve wanted to ask all semester,” Jungwoo racks his mind of a way he can lay it down without sounding ridiculous. There isn’t one. “I just thought you guys didn’t want me here.”

 

It sounds silly when Jungwoo says it out loud when they literally call him their third roommate. Even Jaehyun tells him to start paying rent already with the amount of times he’s slept over—but it is how Jungwoo sees it. There are plenty of reasons and Jungwoo would like to think they’re excusable given that he’s the youngest between the three of them, but there’s only so much that could be reasoned with age.

 

“Why wouldn’t we?” Jaehyun asked, nothing else but pure confusion on his face as he does so. Jungwoo chances a quick glance at Doyoung’s expression, he was dumbfounded—almost offended, even.

 

Besides the whole silent treatment after Jungwoo left their shared dorm room, Doyoung has been nothing but nice to him. Freshman year, Jungwoo didn’t know anyone and hasn’t had much luck in socializing, so he introduced them to his friends and now he’s a part of it.

 

Doyoung tries to make eye contact but Jungwoo averts his gaze before he could even have a chance to. He sighs, “Do you still think—”

 

“It’s nothing like that.” Jungwoo cuts Doyoung off.  _ Fuck. _ Both of them were caught off-guard with the abrupt interruption. Jungwoo bites back his lip, he shouldn’t have done that. Maybe he shouldn’t have slept over. Maybe he shouldn’t have just said anything. Maybe he shouldn’t have been assigned to room with Doyoung freshman year. 

 

It’s harsh and Jungwoo would rather never talk to any of them than let Doyoung know that sometimes this is what he feels. Doyoung doesn’t deserve it,  _ it’s not his fault,  _ but sometimes wounds leave scars that never heal. This is one of them.

 

“I’ll think about it.” Jungwoo says. This is no time to reminisce about foolish times. Jungwoo turns to Jaehyun and asks at a whim, “Should we go buy snacks downstairs, hyung?”

 

Jungwoo stands up—he doesn’t exactly know what to do next so long as he ejects himself out of the situation. Doyoung and Jaehyun were still from where they’re seated, dumbfounded as to how they’ve been dismissed before they could even get to discuss anything.

 

“Jaehyun-hyung, let’s go!” Jungwoo says, taking a jacket out of his duffle bag. It isn’t even chilly outside. Jaehyun then stands up, nodding, accepting that this isn’t at all surprising when it comes to Jungwoo.

 

Doyoung’s still seated, palm now resting on his face as he nags, “Can you guys get real food this time? Cook something! You two are just going to end up buying ramen again.”

 

“Doyoung-hyung asks us to buy real food, and yet he’s out here just eating whatever he wants.” Jaehyun comments.

 

“You were the health buff here. Whatever happened to Jung Jaehyun from high school.”

 

“College changes people,” Jaehyun just shrugs. Jungwoo laughs, hand already twisting the knob open. There was no need to rush but the snacks aren’t going to buy themselves.

 

Once they got out, Michael Jackson’s voice from their neighbor’s room is still blaring loud enough to be heard in the short walk from their unit to the bank of elevators. It’s better than the silence that’s stapled itself from the interrupted conversation. Unfurling his jacket from his hold, Jungwoo manages to poke an arm into a single sleeve before Jaehyun grabs the other to help him in it. 

 

They both pause mid walk at that. Jungwoo’s perfectly capable to wear it on his own, but he lets him help anyway. Jaehyun slings an arm over Jungwoo’s shoulder right after, who stills for a short while before relaxing into the touch.

 

***

 

“You couldn’t have waited until I got out before you started asking me questions that don’t make sense?” Jungwoo complains, as soon as he’s plugged in his earphones and settled himself on the floor. 

 

“We’re sorry, hyung, but we need updates.” Chenle says, closing the English textbook Jisung had been scanning through willingly, perhaps for the very first time in his life.

 

It’s their typical evening setup they have, only this time, it’s through a computer screen and Jungwoo’s seated at the side of a hallway. It’s nice to take a break once in a while, that’s why he didn’t even hesitate to accept the video call when it popped up—which he regretted the very first few seconds in when both Chenle and Jisung were bombarding him with questions at a rapid rate.

 

(“So did you guys get married or—“

 

“Of course they didn’t yet! Hyung would’ve invited us and—”

 

“Doyoung-hyung! Jaehyun-hyung! I’m going out for a bit to take a walk and get some air!” Jungwoo says, quick to mute his laptop and grab his earphones before heading for the door in a record time of seven seconds. Just another evening of Jungwoo taking his pet laptop out for a walk.)

 

It’s Wednesday, and it’s only been two days since the last they’ve seen him, but the two kids Jungwoo babysits on the daily can’t seem to be able to survive without feeling the need to stick their noses in Jungwoo’s nonexistent love life.

 

Chenle nudges Jisung, who mutters to himself, forgetting what they were discussing before Jungwoo put them on mute. It takes a few seconds before he asks, “So did you do it?”

 

“Do what?”

 

“Say yes to Airpods Guy’s proposal.”

 

“It’s a housing offer. Why do you have to call it a proposal?” Jungwoo whines, rolling his eyes. “Besides, maybe I won’t be moving in.”

 

“What do you mean you may not be moving in? Not moving in? With Airpods Guy? Are you crazy?” Of course, give it to Chenle to have the first violent reaction.

 

“You’re taking the other offer you had, hyung?”Jisung protests, now fully invested.  _ Right. There was that one too.  _

 

“Actually, that other offer was from him too… his friend didn’t know he already asked me.”

 

There Chenle goes again with the dolphin noises, as he hit Jisung’s shoulder who couldn’t even complain either because he was laughing and screaming too. “That’s destiny! That’s exactly how the kind of things that only happens in movies. Open your eyes, hyung! Take it!”

 

“But Doyoung-hyung and Jaehyun-hyung just offered me a space in their apartment.” Jungwoo reasons.

 

“Didn’t you mention before that you had to share a bed with them whenever you sleep over because it isn’t possible to have a mattress on the floor without having to move anything.” Of course, give it to Jisung to be the first to discourage him to take any other offer but Yukhei’s.

 

“It’s not that it wasn’t possible. Just that the circulation space would be inconvenient if there would be a mattress on the floor.” Jungwoo explains.

 

Jisung slacks his jaw, before talking once again, “I’m sure it is. That’s why I’m Team Airpods Guy.”

 

“Me too, I’m Team Airpods Guy.” Chenle says, raising his hand. “He’s got a lot of circulation space. Probably. I think. Go Team Airpods Guy!”

 

“That’s too bad because I still get to make the final decision, so…” Jungwoo shrugs.

 

“Jungwoo-hyung’s really out here destroying his own chance at a love life and better living conditions at the same time. I aspire to have zero brain cells just like him.” Jisung doesn’t even sound like he’s joking. It’s really interesting how there’s a considerable distance from Gimpo to Seoul and yet these two have somehow found a way to still annoy him despite that.

 

“If I was there I would’ve shoved your books in front of you and made you two study just to shut you both up.” Jungwoo grits through his teeth.

 

“But you aren’t here, so…” Chenle says, wiggling his eyebrows. Jisung laughs, and they high-five before shrugging in sync—again and again almost as if they’re in some competition on which one of them can malfunction better.  _ There they go again. _

 

Once they’re tired of pulling their shoulders up, Jisung speaks, “Okay, listen hyung. I’m saying this in behalf of being one-half of your brain cell. Lele and I are just concerned, and we doubt you would still be talking to Airpods Guy without our unsolicited life advices, so I’ll just say it.” 

 

Jisung takes a deep breath. Beside him, Chenle’s hyping him up as if he’s Jisung’s coach, and he’s about to enter the ring. “I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. It’s Airpods Guy, with a cute dog, and cheaper than the average rent around the university. You even get your own room. This shouldn’t even be up for debate.”

 

“I mean that’s nice but… it’s more comfortable in Doyoung-hyung and Jaehyun-hyung’s place since we’re friends and all.” Jungwoo says, though he sounds like he’s convincing himself more than anything. He shrugs, “Besides if I take it, I’m gonna have to unlike him. I don’t want to be awkward around him if we’re going to live in the same apartment.  It’s not like I even liked him that much in the first place.”

 

“You didn’t like him that much? That’s—” Jisung argues, before pausing midway. His eyes widen as if he’s just discovered the answers to everything unknown. “Wait, that actually makes sense. I just remembered hyung once mentioned before that he didn’t think he likes Airpods Guy because he already liked someone else.”

 

“What? When did I say that?” Jungwoo blurts out, the raise in his voice unintentional.

 

“He did?”

 

“It was months ago.” Jisung nods, “But then hyung already admitted he likes Airpods Guy. So I don’t know now… Maybe he likes the both of them?”

 

“Woah—hyung really is a player. I—”

 

“Alright, enough about me.” Jungwoo says, before the conversation turns into something completely absurd like it always does. There are better ways to change the topic but Jungwoo can’t be bothered, so he just asks, “How’s life, Chenle?”

 

It doesn’t take long before he manages to say something, “Well, my aunt’s giving me a puppy next week!”

 

“That’s great! I love puppies!”

 

“You should get a dog too, hyung!” Chenle says. It’s an innocent suggestion but Jisung nudges him at the side.

 

The smile on Jungwoo’s face falters, and he couldn’t stop the next words from slipping away from his mouth, “I miss Obokie.”

 

Clueless, Chenle asks, “Who is Obok?”

 

Jisung nudges Chenle, who only mutters a “What?” in response.

 

Jungwoo decides to entertain the question anyway, “My baby.”

 

“You‘re already a dad?!” Chenle bursts out. The expression painting Chenle’s face in disbelief was too comical that Jungwoo couldn’t help but laugh.

 

“My dog.” Jungwoo clarifies.

 

“You have a dog?”

 

“Yeah, but Obok’s not with us right now. I’ll let you two meet once Obok’s back home.”

 

“Where—” Jisung throws a book towards Chenle before he could even finish his sentence.

 

“Hey! What was that—”

 

“Nana, what are you doing there on the floor?!” Jungwoo turns to look at the person screaming, it was from the loud neighbors. A guy in a white hoodie has half of his body poking outside the door while there’s another one who was sitting on the floor with his back leaning on the wall just a few steps away from Jungwoo himself.

 

_ Has he been there the entire time? _

 

“Charging my phone here to help save electric bill costs.” The guy on the floor—Nana, doesn’t even bother to look up from his phone. The other person on the door pauses as if he’s just heard the most brilliant idea in his life.

 

“Did you get that from a life hack video? We should start cooking ramen at the hallway now with our cook top.” he suggests. Doyoung and Jaehyun’s neighbors truly are something else.

 

“Hyung! I had Pororo Cake at school today! You’re right, they’re the best!” Jisung says, diverting his attention back to the two of them.

 

The video call doesn’t last long after that because Jungwoo’s still not done with his submission output, and both Chenle and Jisung promised that they would study well while Jungwoo is away (he knows they won’t, he takes a mental note to check what topics they’re studying at school this week once he’s back home) before saying they’d bother him again same time tomorrow.

 

When Jungwoo goes back inside the room, Doyoung and Jaehyun were huddled up on Jaehyun’s bed watching a movie on his laptop. Too immersed that they don’t bother to look into his direction even when Jungwoo decides to settle himself on Doyoung’s bed and work there instead. They were talking in hushed whispers, seemingly wrapped up in their own world. It’s times like these that Jungwoo feels out of place—like a third wheel. 

 

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that there may be something going on between the two of them, but then again it may just be the fact that they’ve known each other for years and will always have this connection that even Jungwoo cannot decipher.

Maybe this was something good that came out of Jungwoo moving out of his shared dorm room with Doyoung, if he hadn’t they wouldn’t be rooming together. Doyoung’s more at ease compared to when he was rooming with Jungwoo, he could see it in his face especially whenever he gets back from school. Doyoung and Jaehyun had each other, and it’s great to actually go home and have someone who would lift up the stress weighing on their shoulders after a tiring day.

 

Jungwoo shakes his head,  _ stop distracting yourself, you have a deadline in two days. _ He shakes his mouse until the red light flickers on.

 

Jungwoo goes back to work.

 

***

 

The first time Jungwoo actually got to talk to Yukhei was also the same day Jaehyun confronted him about the silent treatment between him and Doyoung that no one else in their group of friends seem to want to acknowledge.

 

It had been a month or so ever since Jungwoo started taking the train, and Jungwoo had taken up observing his surroundings as a hobby. Just simply mundane and trivial things that held no significance in his life.

 

Yukhei—Airpods Guy—who wasn’t even Airpods Guy yet at that time, had been simply just an observation too. He was simply just another commuter Jungwoo could recognize through his face and tendency to get loud once he was much too engrossed playing mobile games.

 

Jungwoo was kind of thankful that they always meet each other at the train, because Airpods Guy had always been some sort of comic relief the world has decided Jungwoo needed at times. Though, it wasn’t exactly pure coincidence as to how they have somehow almost always ended up seeing each other in the train. Jungwoo had always been inclined to being consistent—almost robotic, even. His morning routine had been calculated and run through several trial and errors for him to be able to come to class with at least ten to twenty minutes of time to spare.

 

That’s how every Tuesday and Thursday morning, Jungwoo would be at the platform by this certain time period, and board at the second carriage of the train every time. One quick look within vicinity he’d see the familiar figure of a guy with Airpods stuck in his ears, and on the rare days he wouldn’t be there at the exact same place and time, Airpods Guy wouldn’t be there. It was something he had noticed, an ordinary anecdote that wasn’t of any substance, but Jungwoo entertained himself with it anyway because there wasn’t much he could do during his long commute.

 

The rides that aren’t in the morning where Jungwoo would still somehow end up in the same train with him were usually on days when he would go straight back home after class has ended. Which was almost every day since he’s never actually made more friends aside from Doyoung and his group of friends—Except that day, at least. 

 

After Jungwoo got off the bus, his walk to the subway station was halted when he ran into Jaehyun. For a second, Jungwoo even thought about whether he would say hi or if he should just take his phone out of his pocket and pretend he didn’t see him.

 

Before Jungwoo could even slip his hand inside his jeans’ pocket, there Jung Jaehyun was, waving a hand over his general direction with the usual friendly smile plastered on his face,  _ “It’s been a long time.” _ Jaehyun said then, and Jungwoo doesn’t even remember how he let himself be dragged to Neopups to “catch up” when he knew it himself, that it wasn’t the only reason.

 

(“Doyoung-hyung won’t be there.”

 

“Wh-What? Why mention Doyoung-hyung…”

 

“No reason.”)

 

It was no lie, because the only other person to join them at their table had been Taeyong who was already there.

 

There may be the three of them (six, if the dogs they had on their laps even counted), but the silence blanketing the table they were in made it seem like they were all just strangers seated there because there were not enough vacant seats in the crowded cafe. Catching up wouldn’t even be a problem when so much have happened ever since the last time they sat down like that to just walk. There were so much they could talk about, but then the difficulty may be been rooted from the possibility that— maybe they were never really friends. 

 

They just spent a lot of time together because he was Doyoung’s roommate—but then he wasn’t anymore. Jungwoo hasn’t even talked to Doyoung since his move out day, or any of them either. None aside from a couple of invites Jungwoo would outright reject during the whole summer break. Sometimes he wouldn’t even check his messages and some texts were left unanswered. It was ridiculous, because the only excuse Jungwoo ever uses is that he’s being asked to watch over his neighbor’s kid as a favor—which was a complete lie because Jisung may always act like a kid, but he was perfectly capable of staying home alone without burning it down.

 

Not a single one of them bought his excuses. That’s what they’ve told Jungwoo months later when they were back to speaking terms, but they let him just because they knew the actual reason why.

 

Jungwoo just couldn’t go because that would mean Doyoung might be there.

 

Not that Jungwoo intended to intentionally avoid him at the beginning. It was just that… when he told Doyoung that he wouldn’t be rooming with him next semester, he had been furious. Doyoung did try to conceal it as much as he can, but Jungwoo could see right through it. He even said that he understood Jungwoo’s reasons and helped him move out his stuff.

 

Things were never the same after that, the remaining days they had left occupying the room were suffocating, and sometimes Jungwoo would even leave the room when it got too much, and he would just wander around elsewhere as much as he could so long as he didn’t have to stay in the same room as Doyoung. 

 

There had been a certain hostility that was never there before, and Jungwoo carried that along with him when they loaded the boxes at the backseat of his family car, and Doyoung had muttered a “Take care.” before waving, Jungwoo couldn’t even bring it in himself to look him in the eye.

 

So when Jungwoo came to Neopups with Jaehyun willingly, he knew what was coming for him, and he walked right into it. So it didn’t surprise Jungwoo at all that the silence had been broken and escalated into having Jungwoo talk about what exactly happened with Doyoung, even if it was just of fragments even he couldn’t piece together.

 

It took him months before he could even say it out loud in front of anyone. There were better ways he would have handled the situation, and yet somehow, Jungwoo managed to do everything wrong.

 

It was all his fault anyway, and Jungwoo regretted it.

 

“Then why did you just leave?” Jaehyun interrupted, patience running out. Not like Jungwoo was making any sense. “You were so cheeky about it then too. It made it seem like you weren’t aware how troublesome it was for Doyoung-hyung. What’s funny is I was there literally the day before and you guys were discussing something about using essential oils in your humidifier as if you wouldn’t decide to just move out the next day—which you did.”

 

“I—” Jungwoo stopped. The words had been pulling his tongue back, and there was no way to go about it without them spilling in all the wrong places. “I don’t know.”

 

“You don’t know? Are you serious?” Jaehyun exasperated. It was a tone Jungwoo’s never heard from him before—Jaehyun never got mad. Especially to him. He really fucked up. “You really hurt him, Jungwoo.” 

 

“Wait, all Jungwoo did was realize that he wanted to spend time with his family at home. What was so wrong with that?” Taeyong tried to reason, it should’ve been Jungwoo explaining himself, but even that was something he couldn’t do.

 

“Well, it doesn’t seem like Jungwoo did a good job at explaining himself. What, doesn’t Doyoung-hyung deserve an explanation? An actual one? He really just left Doyoung-hyung up in the air. Just like that.”

 

“You’re already rooming with Doyoung, and Jungwoo’s getting to spend time at home like he wanted. Why is this still even a problem?” Taeyong asked. Jungwoo didn't even understand why Taeyong was defending him at that time.

 

“Because it still doesn’t make sense!” Jaehyun was clearly on the edge of his frustration. Even Turtle, the Corgi who had been snug on Jaehyun’s lap was startled by him, that he walked towards Jungwoo and repositioned himself by his side instead. Jungwoo would’ve cooed at any other given situation, but it wasn’t the time. “What? You haven’t seen Doyoung-hyung question himself several times if he did anything wrong? It was too sudden. Okay. Fine. The short notice is forgivable, but with the way Jungwoo acted right after—even up to right now, it’s really hard to think that there isn’t a problem.”

 

“You’re acting as if Jungwoo did something so terrible. Even Doyoung wouldn’t dare. You’re being too much.”

 

Jungwoo was feeling smaller and smaller the more they argue because of him—in front of him even. To them, he was invisible, there was no voice coming out from his mouth and everything was choking him by the neck.  _ What has he done. _

 

“There’s obviously more to it, you know Doyoung-hyung wouldn’t be like this if it was just that. Hyung wouldn’t even tell me, he just told me not to worry about it, but how could I not?” Jaehyun sighed, and Taeyong didn’t seem like he could debate about it any further when he wasn’t exactly wrong. “It’s even worse that hyung can’t even ask because how can he, when Jungwoo’s obviously avoiding him—avoiding us, even. Haven’t you noticed?”

 

That’s when Jungwoo darted his eyes over Jaehyun’s face. When their eyes met, Jungwoo looked away as if they were caught aflame. The things Jungwoo thought passed by unnoticed, weren’t when Jaehyun had it all figured out.

 

There was no escaping this.

 

“I’m sorry,” Jungwoo blurted out, no longer being able to handle the situation. “I’ll explain soon and talk to Doyoung-hyung, so please, just stop.”

 

And in that split-second, Jaehyun broke out of his fit, the ways his eyes widened suggest that he may have regretted all that he had said—but Jungwoo didn’t blame him. It was only natural that Jaehyun would take Doyoung’s side (even though there shouldn’t have been one in the first place). They were all friends before Jungwoo even came in the picture. Seven months of knowing them was merely just a fraction of it.

 

Both Jaehyun and Taeyong walked Jungwoo to the subway station right after, and he’d only said that he would try to keep in touch with them and waved goodbye before they could even say anything.

 

Running into Jaehyun, wasn’t a part of his routine. It was something that couldn’t be avoided even if he tried his best to calculate his daily commute, but then again the whole situation shouldn’t even have been that dramatic. Jungwoo shouldn’t have—There was someone hunched down beside his leg.

 

_ What.  _

 

Jungwoo hadn’t meant to jerk his whole leg, it was only out of reflex when it did and somehow hit the person below him.

 

“Oh, shit,” the guy blabbed before he got knocked off from his squatting position.

 

_ Oh no. _

 

“Ah. Sorry about that.” he said. Oh—it’s the loud guy. Jungwoo hadn’t noticed him even though they’ve passed by three stations already. Jungwoo furrowed his eyebrows, because this guy was apologizing him even though it was the side of his head that got hit by Jungwoo’s leg. Something was off.

 

“Wait, I should be the one apologizing,” Jungwoo said, he offered his hand to the guy on the floor, who took it—which wasn’t really a good idea when they’re inside a moving train. Jungwoo lost his balance right after the other was able to stand up on his own two feet, and it was his turn this time to stumble and be caught by the stranger who was quick to catch him by the waist and hang unto a handle to prevent his fall.

 

_ What a mess. _

 

Jungwoo didn’t even realize that he had both hands clinging on the guy’s shirtsleeves—he was quick to detach his grip, and he would’ve fallen yet again if it hadn’t been for the fact that the guy still hadn’t let go of his waist.

 

They both snap out of it at the same time, disentangling themselves from each other and relying on the balls of their feet to regain their composure and stay steady. It was awkward, really. It must’ve been ten seconds of simply just standing there trying their best not to look each other in the eye.

 

“I lost an Airpod.” the guy told Jungwoo.

 

“Oh,” Jungwoo said. There was indeed only one Airpod stuck in his ear at that moment. “Good luck finding it then.”

 

“Thanks,” he barely managed a nod before going back to search for it on the floor. With that, Jungwoo went back to minding his business—but only for a split-second because not long after he grabbed on a handle, he stood face down and caught sight of something just right beside his left foot. 

 

There was a lone Airpod on the floor—which is odd, since the guy was searching the floor directly where Jungwoo had been standing, and yet he somehow missed it. Maybe he got distracted when Jungwoo hit the side of his head. Right. Jungwoo picked it up from the floor, and stood up to search for him. Jungwoo didn’t get to see him until he lowered his vision and caught sight of the guy—who was duck walking.  _ This day truly did not conform with his usual commuting routine. _ Jungwoo approached him, and bent his knees to crouch down to his level.

 

“Hey…” Jungwoo pokes the guy’s back, twice to get his attention. He looked back at him, and Jungwoo could only present the lost Airpod in his hand without a word.

 

“No way!” the guy beamed when he realized what was it in his hand.

 

Jungwoo motioned for him to take it, and once he did, he was smiling from ear to ear while staring at it as if Jungwoo plucked the stars for him and presented it to him in his hand when it was simply just—an Airpod. 

 

_ Cute. _

 

_ No. Shut up. _

 

“What was that?”

 

“What?”

 

“You said something.”

 

“Huh.” Jungwoo could only laugh, before he shook his head too fast to even be considered normal. “It’s nothing. Please don’t lose your Airpods again.”

 

The guy shook his head as well, covering his mouth to stifle a laugh before he waved a single hand dismissively, “I won’t. Thanks, man.”

 

They looked like fools crouched down in the middle of the subway floor, Jungwoo couldn’t help but laugh, and the other guy does too. It was a tiring day, but at least, something even just a bit amusing came out from that day.

 

Once Jungwoo has closed the gate of his house, he could already hear the faint sound of paws scratching down the door. Jungwoo grinned, as he quickly fastened his pace to open the door.

 

“Baby!” Jungwoo cooed, slipping his shoes off and sitting down on the floor to let the dog attack his face with kisses. “Obokie!”

 

It was great to actually go home and have someone, even if it was his tiny dog, who had the power to lift up the stress weighing on his shoulders after a tiring day.


	10. Chapter 10

**rat’s dad from seoul subway line 2!!**

 

_did u know bike is short for bichael_

**2:32 AM**

 

Jungwoo stares at the message, wondering if the simulation is glitching or if Yukhei really thought letting him know Bichael’s nickname is an appropriate conversation starter when it’s past midnight (or any time of the day).

 

Though, Jungwoo should be accustomed to it by now since he’s been getting random messages from Yukhei much like this one since they exchanged numbers. They were about Rat at first, but after a while it turned into what movie Yukhei was watching instead of studying or Jungwoo’s vast variety of snacks and well… _this._ Jungwoo sends random messages back too, because who else would be willing to read about how he accidentally poured coffee instead of hot water on his ramen cup than someone who thinks Bread is short for Breadward.

 

It takes Jungwoo a minute or so of hovering his eyes over each letter, pondering on whether or not he would entertain it or go back to work since he does only have a day left before his project’s deadline. In the end, he shrugs, and texts away. He’s almost done with his project and it isn’t like Jungwoo was doing any actual work anyway, he’s been staring at the white wall before him for a solid ten minutes before his phone beeped. His brain is definitely not in the right state to work as of the moment and Jungwoo can’t be bothered to dose himself with more caffeine knowing it’ll do him more harm than good if he does.

 

 _is bichael, ratthew’s cousin??^^,_ he types.

 

Yukhei’s reply comes not even a split-second later.

 

_no!! ratthew’s cousin is ham…_

 

_hamantha…_

 

_hehe_

 

Jungwoo covers his mouth with Doyoung’s pillow to stop himself from bursting into laughter. A lot of things are a hundred times funnier when you’re sleep deprived. His mind’s drifting further away from dreamland where he seemed to be heading to before Yukhei messaged. It really isn’t a good idea to be working on the bed if he needed to be done and over with this project, but Doyoung’s claimed to have made a huge sacrifice of giving his bed up and sharing one with Jaehyun for the night (and the past few nights) just so Jungwoo could work comfortably instead of breaking his back on the coffee table.

 

(“Work on my bed instead. I’ll share with Jae. You’ve been in the same position down there on the floor all day. Your back must hurt.”

 

“Just say you want to share a bed with Jaehyun-hyung and go.”

 

“Then keep working on the coffee table then!”)

 

 _why u still up?? working on that proj?,_ another message pops up.

 

 _yes... i think i need a break_ _ㅠㅜ_ _,_ Jungwoo’s just typing out what’s on his mind without thinking at this point.

 

_u’ve been sleeping over your friend’s place rn right? i’m sleeping over at kun-hyung’s place 2nyt so i’m around here_

 

_do u want to go out for a walk?_

 

Pause. Jungwoo goes over it again to make sure if he’s read it correctly.

 

 _only if u want to it is kinda late,_ Yukhei adds.

 

It’s nearly three a.m. It isn’t exactly a dangerous neighborhood, and as far as he knew Kun’s apartment was only two blocks away from where he is right now. There isn’t enough energy in his system willing to keep working, but he can’t risk to fall asleep and end up wasting too many hours when his deadline’s the next day.

 

Jungwoo presses carefully on his keyboard making sure there isn’t a single typo before he sends, _where do u want to meet up?_

 

***

 

It feels like a scene from those movies his sister loves watching. Except Doyoung and Jaehyun aren’t his parents, and he’s definitely not doing this to meet a boyfriend. Never did Jungwoo think he would be sneaking out at 3 a.m. to meet up with someone he just officially met not even a week ago, but there he was, slipping his feet into Jaehyun’s old flip-flops which are too big for him. Jungwoo figures he’s known Yukhei for ten months anyway, no matter how it’s a ridiculous amount of time to not know each other’s names. It’s not weird or uncharacteristic of him. _No._

 

Jungwoo tries his best not to make a sound as he unzips his backpack to grab his wallet and then take a hoodie from the closet. He takes one last glance to make sure Doyoung and Jaehyun were asleep—he purses his lips to stop himself from cracking up when he sees their limbs were tangled up together like vines intertwined. Jungwoo snaps a photo before he goes, it’s good content to send to the friend group chat.

 

They agreed to meet at the corner of the street nearest to where Jungwoo is. When Jungwoo steps out, he takes notice of how the night air is cooler than Jungwoo expected it to be since summer’s just around the corner. There aren’t a lot of people outside since it is in the quiet part of the district and a bit further away from the main road. That’s why it doesn’t take Jungwoo long to recognize that the hooded figure illuminated by the orange streetlight a couple of buildings away was unmistakably Yukhei. He’s face down on the sidewalk where there’s a stone he’s rolling back and forth with a single foot.

 

“I can’t believe you actually came.” is what Yukhei says as a greeting once he takes notice of Jungwoo walking towards him. It’s too early for his heart to melt at the sight but it does.

 

 _Damn it._ Jungwoo tries to act as casual as he can, and nothing can embody that better than a shrug, “Well, you asked.”

 

“I wasn’t really thinking when I sent that.” Yukhei admits, Jungwoo had the hunch. “Hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

 

“I’m almost done with it, just polishing some stuff.” Jungwoo says, “I needed the break anyway. Were you up studying too and needed a break?”

 

Yukhei shakes his head, “Not really.”

 

“So you only wanted to see me then?” Jungwoo tries hard not to bite back his lips and smiles instead. _I shouldn’t have said that. Stop it._ His word filter has flown out of the window along with his brain.

 

Yukhei can only laugh, eyes crinkling as he says, “Yeah? I missed you, I guess.”

 

Jungwoo digs a nail on a single fingertip as he suppresses his smile from growing any further. _It’s a joke, don’t take it too seriously._

 

“Well, I missed you more!” Jungwoo decided to play along. _Yes, a joke._

 

Yukhei fakes a squeal and Jungwoo laughs too hard to be considered natural. He’ll be cringing at himself once it lingers in his mind later on once he’s alone. Yukhei stretches a hand out where he’s holding a small plastic bag, “Yakult?”

 

If Jungwoo knew that Yukhei brought snacks, he would’ve stolen some from the fridge too. Before Jungwoo can even answer, Yukhei takes one out and peels the cover off, “Here you go!”

 

Jungwoo tilts his head, “Me?”

 

“No, I was talking to the rock.”

 

“Oh,” Jungwoo says before knitting his eyebrows a total of three seconds later. This has happened before, and he’s fallen for it again. “Hey!”

 

Yukhei laughs, gesturing the Yakult towards him, “Take it!”

 

“Thank you.” Jungwoo says, before sipping on it. They start walking, mindless steps to nowhere in particular.

 

“I got bread too,” Yukhei says, pulling one out from the bag to show him. He waves it for a bit with a goofy smile on his face, “Breadward.”

 

There’s something in the air, or how the streetlights blanket them in the warmth of the LPS lamp, or maybe even the Yakult (aside from billions of live and active probiotics) that’s mildly comforting. For the first time in a while, the weight on his shoulders have been lifted and Jungwoo can feel himself relax as they fall into a trivial conversation.

 

There’s something tickling his leg. “Oh!” Jungwoo says, after looking down to see a cat rubbing their body on his leg.

 

“Yo,” Yukhei crouches down to the cat’s level. He coos, “Mao, baby~”

 

The cat pays no heed to Yukhei, much too invested in using Jungwoo’s sweatpants-clad shin as a body scratcher of some sort. Jungwoo laughs, that’s when Yukhei takes something out of the plastic bag—a can of tuna—which catches the cat’s attention as soon as Yukhei pulls the tab open before putting it on the pavement and soon enough, they’ve detached themself to Jungwoo in favor of the can of tuna.

Yukhei takes his eyes away from the cat digging in the food to look up at Jungwoo, “Thought we’d run into a stray cat, so I bought tuna too.” he says, smiling, seemingly proud of himself at his own action.

 

“Congrats.” Jungwoo says, bending his knees down as well. Anyone else walking would have to adjust when there’s two grown men blocking the whole sidewalk to watch a cat eat.

 

Once the cat’s finished eating, they go back to Jungwoo to rub the side of his body at his leg yet, again. Jungwoo raises a hand warily, unsure whether the cat would mind being petted, in the end he manages to stroke their fur a couple of times before they went off.

 

“You know I didn’t really expect this.” Yukhei says, absentmindedly. He grabs the empty can, and they go back to walk not long after.

 

“What? You just said you thought we would run into a cat.”

 

“Not that! I meant it like… I didn’t expect that we would be, you know…”

 

“Friends?” Jungwoo finishes for him.

 

“Yes? I mean—No—Yes! Yes, friends. I meant friends!” Yukhei covers his mouth, muffling his laughter. “I mean it took us forever to get to that introduction. Like, what is up with that?”

 

“Well, I was asleep like half the time.” Jungwoo admits.

 

“You were!” Yukhei nods repeatedly in agreement. “Every time, I just go _‘Oh! Apeach Cu—Apeach is asleep again!’_ ”

 

Jungwoo’s eyes widened at that, “You used to call me Apeach in your head?”

 

Yukhei’s mouth forms an ‘o’, halting his steps that Jungwoo stops as well. It shouldn’t be a surprise since they did go so long without knowing each other’s names but, it just never occurred to Jungwoo that Yukhei would actually have a nickname for him too or at least one that isn’t just _that guy who always falls asleep at the subway or sucks at mobile games._

 

“It was your phone case. The one you said your sister gave you.” Yukhei elaborates before they continue walking. Jungwoo doesn’t even remember telling him that, but a spark of a memory pops up in his head. He must’ve said it on the verge of falling asleep.

 

“Airpods Guy,” Jungwoo blurts out, Yukhei blinks at him. He continues, “I used to call you that.”

 

“That’s…” Yukhei pauses, still blinking as he mumbled the nickname to himself. “That’s cute.”

 

“I mean you always wore Airpods at the train. Apeach is cute too. Too cute actually, do I even deserve that nickname?”

 

“Eh,” Yukhei begs to disagree. “You’re cuter than Apeach.”

 

Jungwoo slows his steps a bit, just so he would be a step behind Yukhei. It’s dark out but his cheeks were tingling, and he can’t risk being caught with a red face. He says as if he hasn’t fallen into a certain type of panic mode, “If you say so.”

 

“I had to give you a nickname, you know? You definitely made riding the subway more interesting,” Yukhei admits, and Jungwoo couldn’t argue with that when he gave him a nickname too only because it’s easier to think of him that way. “It’s entertaining to see you struggle to play games. It was so painful to watch I had to step in and help.”

 

“I wasn’t _that_ bad!” Jungwoo retorts.

 

“Your progress in _I Became a Dog_ was the same as the last time I helped you and more than a month has passed since then.”

 

“Well…” Jungwoo’s out of excuses. He’s already gotten to the end of the game once, but he can’t seem to figure out how to get the other endings no matter how hard he tried. “I was busy with school. I couldn’t play it as much!”

 

“Just say you wouldn’t even be able to play any game without my help.”

 

“Alright, playing games would suck without you. I suck on my own. It has to be with you, happy?” Jungwoo says, just to appease Yukhei. Surely, he can’t be _that_ bad. That shuts Yukhei up for some reason, but Jungwoo was too preoccupied with staring ahead at the road before him to notice, unable to stop a yawn from coming before he could do so—

 

“Hey!” Jungwoo protests, as much as he can at least with a piece of cream bun that Yukhei’s stuffed in his mouth mid-yawn.

 

“Race you to the playground!” Yukhei yells, dashing off before Jungwoo could even get a single word out. He follows, munching on the cream bun as he does. The park isn’t that too far ahead anyway and Yukhei’s first to climb up, long legs climbing up the steps twice at a time with ease before sliding down. Maybe they’re too old (and too tall) to be sliding down the playground set, but there isn’t any room to care when they’re the only ones at the playground anyway.

 

A couple of rounds sliding up and down later, Jungwoo settles himself at a corner of the deck after climbing up. He leans his head on the plastic railing exactly as another yawn comes out.

 

“Sleepy?” Yukhei says. Jungwoo shakes his head, even though he feels another yawn creeping up. That’s when Yukhei sits down by the other side of the deck near the slide—which isn’t much so it must’ve been a good half a meter away, at least.

 

“Have any plans for summer break?”  Yukhei asks in a whim, “Kun-hyung said it would be great if the three of us could go on a trip as an icebreaker, I guess. I mean, that is if you’re really moving in. No pressure or anything.”

 

 _Right,_ the moving in thing.

 

“Maybe,” Jungwoo shrugs, he should decide what he should do with that now that the semester’s ending. The answer’s already clear in his mind, but then he remembers Doyoung’s hesitance to ask and how the reason may be found on the expression he had on his face a year ago, asking Jungwoo why he was moving out so suddenly. He remembers Jaehyun welcoming him to their apartment as if he’s already their third roommate and how it’s a stark contrast to how he looked at him that time Jungwoo was avoiding them.

 

Jungwoo remembers how he never thought they would even want to be his roommate no matter how many times he’s slept over, and that they’re actually his friends so it shouldn’t even come as a shock to him but it was.

 

Jungwoo doesn’t want Doyoung—doesn’t want them to get the wrong idea, and rejecting might result to another conflict. They’re all old enough to understand without going into another silent fight, but they’ve never actually talked about that time and there were things long overdue that they needed to talk about instead of pretending like they never happened. Jungwoo’s over it, he thinks, and he’ll keep it buried with him to the ground. No one else needed to know, _especially_ Doyoung. It’s nothing to be so unnecessarily dramatic, anyway.

 

“I’m not saying this just because we really need a housemate but…” Yukhei trails off. “I mean you can still move here and not with us, that’s fine! I’m just really concerned. You don’t seem like you get enough sleep since I always see you asleep on the train. It would be great if you had more time to rest.”

 

Jungwoo isn’t so sure how many people he’s met who actually care about the well being of almost-strangers much like him, but he’s sure he could count all of them with a single hand. He can’t even imagine how much he would’ve accidentally missed his station and would have to travel back if it weren’t for Airpods Guy rescuing him in those moments.

 

Jungwoo slides a bit closer to Yukhei’s side to poke his shoulder. Yukhei looks at him in skepticism and Jungwoo retracts his finger as if it’s been burnt. _Why did I do that again?_

 

“Thanks for being my human alarm clock.” Jungwoo says.

 

Yukhei waves a single hand dismissively, “It’s no problem!”

 

“You even cheered me up many times. That’s really nice of you.”

 

Jungwoo’s inching closer to being sentimental, but it’s been awhile since he’s breathed or felt at east like this. He’s taken only a number of breaks he can count with one hand because of Final submissions and there is something about Yukhei that reminds him to take some time away to just let go.

 

To Jungwoo’s surprise, Yukhei slides closer too, so that they’re only a few inches away and he’s able to poke his shoulder. “I just really like making people happy.”

 

“I was really sad like a particular time I don’t know if you remember, but—wait,” Jungwoo unlocks his phone to show his wallpaper to Yukhei. “This is Obok. Obok is my dog. I love dogs _a lot,_ you see.”

 

“Yeah, Taeyong-hyung told me you always visit Neopups because the dogs over there love you so much!” The way Yukhei talks is laced with excitement, and Jungwoo doesn’t know what to do with the knowledge that Taeyong may be talking about him with Yukhei.

 

“Anyway, Obok during that time went missing. I don’t remember much but there were a lot of times we had to go around the neighborhood searching, and we put up a lot of notices everywhere and—” Remembering those times still makes his heart sting. It’s still a punch in the gut and sometimes it doesn’t even feel real. “It was a hard time.”

 

Jungwoo doesn’t know why the words spill so easily, but he’s been thinking about that time more than usual lately and Jungwoo thinks he might explode if he doesn’t say it out loud.

 

“Sorry for bringing the mood down.” Jungwoo forces a laugh out.

 

“It’s alright.” Yukhei reassures him, “You can talk about it. I’ll listen.”

 

Jungwoo can, but he doesn’t want to, so he changes the topic instead. “Anyway, that’s why I’m so attached to Rat! When I met her, she was just so adorable and clingy to me and I really loved it. I was always so curious who her owner was but turns out it was you!”

 

Yukhei blinks at him for a split-second, wondering perhaps how Jungwoo could swerve the conversation elsewhere so abruptly, but then he takes a glance at the uneasy smile perched on Jungwoo’s lips and senses the silent request to just go with it—so he does.

 

“She’s so adorable, right? I thought so too when I first met her!” Yukhei perks up, too deliberate perhaps for Jungwoo’s sake. “I got Rat from the grandfather who had a street food stall around here. He didn’t really plan on having more than his own dog, and he couldn’t afford to take care of them. The most he could do was keep the puppies in a box while he worked, hoping any of the students he could trust would adopt them.”

 

“Wait, actually I’ll show you. Rat was so tiny at that time with her siblings. Rat was my favorite for some reason. I don’t know why I got so attached, but she liked me the most, so I guess that must be why.” Yukhei takes his phone out and scrolls through his camera roll as he spoke.“I wanted to adopt her at that time but I didn’t think I could take care of a puppy when I commute back and forth to school. It took a while and I visited her after school _a lot._ Eventually I just said, _‘Screw everything, I’m adopting Rat!’_ so now I have a baby.”

 

Jungwoo laughs, and Yukhei manages to find the photo of Sushi in a box with about five other puppies.

 

“What happened to the other puppies?” Jungwoo asks.

 

Yukhei swipes left, showing off more photos of a much smaller Sushi, “They got adopted too. Rat and Eleven were the last ones. I adopted Rat with a friend who adopted Eleven on the same day.”

 

There seems to be a hundred of photos of Sushi in Yukhei’s phone gallery, and he narrates the story in each one, and Jungwoo doesn’t mind when he’s mostly the only one talking and filling in the spaces Jungwoo can’t since he has no energy left. Jungwoo doesn’t stay silent that much though, because talks with Yukhei are never boring and it really is just so _easy._ Too comfortable, that Jungwoo’s slipping into this drowsy state. It’s expected when he hasn’t spent even enough sleep in the week as much as one should in a day.

 

“Jungwoo.”

 

“Hm?”

 

“You’re falling asleep.”

 

Jungwoo nods, not really registering what Yukhei just said in his mind.

 

“Jungwoo.”

 

“Hm?”

 

“You’re falling asleep again.”

 

“Hm.”

 

“Jungwoo!”

 

“Yes?”

 

“I’ll walk you back to your friend’s place. You can sleep there.” Yukhei offers.

 

Jungwoo whines before turning his head from side to side in the slightest way, his mouth may be talking but his eyes were still shut. “I can’t. If I fall asleep there I won’t be able to wake up and I really want to finish this project as soon as I can.”

 

“But you really look like you need to rest.” Yukhei tells him, and he does. _Desperately,_ but he’s always been a stubborn one. He offers, “I’m not sleepy at all so I can wake you up. Do you want to nap on my shoulder then?”

 

Jungwoo doesn’t have it in him to protest, “Just ten minutes. Then I’ll go back to work.”

 

Yukhei negotiates, “Twenty minutes.”

 

“Ten.”

 

“Twenty.”

 

“Ten.”

 

“Thirty.”

 

Jungwoo can never win this one. Yukhei scoots closer until the side of his cheek is grazing on his sleeve. He can sense the hesitance in Yukhei’s hand guiding his head to his shoulder so Jungwoo leans in it and welcomes the touch.

 

“Twenty, then.”  Jungwoo surrenders.

 

Once Jungwoo’s nestled his head on Yukhei’s shoulder, he’s close enough to smell the scent of the fabric softener on his hoodie—And just like Yukhei, Jungwoo never expected this too.

 

The thing with public transport crushes is you don’t know when will be the next time you’d see them again—or if you’ll ever even see them again, but seeing Airpods guy became a staple when they see each other at the subway more often than not. He was always just within vicinity. It didn’t feel like Jungwoo had to ask for his name just to know who he is.

 

Any of them could’ve just stopped riding the subway at the exact same time and carriage. Yukhei could’ve not adopted Rat and Jungwoo would’ve never met her and named her Sushi, or he could’ve moved in with Qian Kun and stopped riding the subway altogether and Jungwoo would just have to accept that he would never see him again.

 

But Yukhei always had the same commuting hours as him. He adopted Rat and Jungwoo met her at Neopups, and they might even possibly be housemates the next semester. There’s even a name to replace every single anecdote involving Airpods Guy now.

 

_This must be a dream._

 

It’s the only explanation as to why he’s next to Airpods Guy—sans the Airpods, or the subway—with his head on his shoulder, on a playground set at this hour.

 

“Jungwoo?”

 

“Hm?”

 

“It’s just…” Yukhei trails off—or not, Jungwoo isn’t so sure of anything anymore when his mind’s in a haze.

 

“Just?” Jungwoo mumbles.

 

Yukhei shrugs and stop mid-way upon realizing Jungwoo’s head is on his shoulder. It takes him a second before he relaxes back, “I’m just really glad I finally know your name.”

 

“Me too, Yukhei.” Jungwoo mutters, before he lets the white noise and the faint humming from the guy whose shoulder has turned into his own personal pillow, serve as a lullaby to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> p.s. i became a dog is a mobile game that is deceivingly cute tho i must say be warned since its kinda dark and morbid for something that looks cute lol :-((


	11. Chapter 11

“Jungwoo.”

 

“Hm?”

 

“Jungwoo.”

 

“Hm?”

 

“You still have a deadline tomorrow.”

 

That prompts Jungwoo to open his eyes, and he blinks, his mind processing where he is and how he ended up here. It is seconds later when he jolts upon realizing that he was clinging to Yukhei’s arm while his head was leaning against his shoulder—taking Yukhei by surprise.

 

“Sorry.” Jungwoo mumbles, not even a minute awake, and he’s already embarrassing himself. Yukhei laughs though, waving a lazy hand.

 

“It’s alright, you seemed to have slept well.” Yukhei comments, “Don’t worry, it’s only been twenty minutes like we agreed on.”

 

They both pause, the silence helping Jungwoo to run through the checklist in his head with how much work he has left to do, and it didn’t seem like a lot earlier on, but time was ticking and—

 

“Ah! I need to go back to work. I’m sorry. What time is it?” Yukhei answers, but the numbers barely even register in his ears with how his stomach’s dipping and there’s this burning in his chest that’s blooming with every second. “Shit, I really need to go back to work.”

 

Jungwoo’s pace is quick with his feet taking stride after stride as he walks back to Doyoung and Jaehyun’s apartment. The onset of panic flows through his system, and he didn’t mean to, but he was mumbling all his worries to himself.

 

“Do you need help?” Yukhei offers, catching up to Jungwoo’s steps with ease. “I can help if there’s any way I can.”

 

“It’s fine. I wouldn’t want to bother you. I’ll ask help from the hyungs instead. I think I—This is me, already.” Jungwoo halts his steps, almost passing by the apartment building. He faces Yukhei, who was eyeing him with concern. There was so much going on and his head is pounding, he can’t even be bothered to conceal it anymore. “It’s just—I just realized I still have so much to do. I haven’t double-checked the post-processed renders. Why did I even think I deserved to rest—”

 

“Jungwoo,” Yukhei sets both his hands to rest on Jungwoo’s shoulders. _Fuck._ He was babbling. “Breathe.”

 

Jungwoo manages to relax his shoulders as Yukhei rubs circles on it. He takes a deep breath and exhales, becoming more aware of his breathing and the action turns something voluntary that he’s forgotten how to without it being deliberate. He can’t function enough to be a normal human being and breathe. _What am I even capable of if I can’t breathe—_

 

“Do you want a good luck hug?” The statement cuts off the train of thought speeding in his head.

 

“Okay.” It’s not quite an outright yes, but Jungwoo doesn’t have it in him to refuse when the comfort is very much welcome.

 

The touch is warm, and Yukhei’s arms envelop him in it. Jungwoo slumps back into Yukhei, and lets himself melt in his embrace.

 

Yukhei whispers, “You’ll do fine. You’ve worked really hard for this and Mark’s told me how great you are at what you do. I’ve caught glimpses of your work at the train before and I may not be knowledgeable in architecture, but from an outsider’s point of view, they’re amazing. _You’re amazing._ ”

 

“Really?”

 

Yukhei chuckles, “Yes, really.”

 

There’s peace in Jungwoo’s head for a minute, and for a moment, he actually believed in what Yukhei just said. Yukhei’s words linger in his head after they part and it stays there hours later as he works. It drives Jungwoo enough to burn the midnight oil even through the sunrise.

 

***

 

This is the end—or at least, the end of the awfully dreadful period of consecutive all-nighters chasing a deadline. Jungwoo isn’t quite sure if he did alright at his presentation, but at least it’s over, and all he wants is to invite himself in Doyoung and Jaehyun’s place and collapse to the nearest bed. _Everything else, be damned._ He’ll worry about those later once wakes up from a fifteen-hour nap.

 

Of course, it could be that easy. Except, three of his classmates were blocking his way and Jungwoo had thought he’d be done with them after that disastrous group presentation. Turns out they weren’t finished talking to him.

 

Maybe if Jungwoo closes his eyes, he’ll eventually wake up in Doyoung’s bed, the side of his nose digging in the fresh smell of clean linen and some trace of what seems to be expensive soap—but the longer his eyes are spent shut, the more aware he is of how there are people casting glances over their direction. How he should keep his calm and speak softer than usual because he knows how easy it is for someone to just overhear and whatever word he would say or _has said_ would be public knowledge.

 

This isn’t so much of a big deal, _it shouldn’t be,_ but Jungwoo’s spent a year and a half in college avoiding drama. He’d rather keep it that way.

 

“Kim Jungwoo, speak up.”

 

But—oh, they were still not yet done talking to him. What was Jungwoo going to say again?

 

“Hey, Jungwoo.” Park Sooyoung yells from across the room before Jungwoo could even utter a single word. “Your boyfriend is here.”

 

“I’ll be going.” Jungwoo blurts out, his urgency to leave evident. It’s not the most ideal situation, and he’s trying his best to keep his composure no matter how much he’s itching to just scream or let the ground swallow him.

 

“Are we done here?” he asks. Jungwoo smiles, it’s only appropriate to stay polite. _They weren’t,_ but he turns his back away from them anyway, not waiting for any of them to respond.

 

Jungwoo’s head is pulsing with ache from exhaustion as he walks. His eyeballs feel like they’re about to fall off any minute now, and he’s just about certain that if anyone would try to initiate another conversation with him just to escalate into another argument, Jungwoo would—Someone was grabbing his arm.

 

 _Please, not again._ Jungwoo doesn’t bother to conceal the scowl on his face anymore when he turns his head to check who it was.

 

“Jungwoo. Your presentation today was great. You did great.”

 

Jungwoo’s face softens, immediately regretting that he’s given up on keeping face. He smiles, “Thanks, Dejun.”

 

It’s just Xiao Dejun—and Sicheng who was standing just beside him.

 

Jungwoo can already feel the blood rushing on his cheeks, embarrassment creeping up to him for acting so rude. They aren’t even that close since he’s only shared one class with him this semester and sometimes spend breaks together because he’s friends with Sicheng.

 

“Ah, sorry about that.” Jungwoo is quick to apologize before the surprised expression on Dejun’s face turns into offended one.

 

Dejun grins much to Jungwoo’s relief, “It’s alright! I understand, it looks like you worked really hard for our final project. I hope you can rest for today now.”

 

“You also did great!” Jungwoo beams. “Rest for today too.”

 

Dejun nods, and he doesn’t stop even when five seconds have passed by. He must be as sleep-deprived as Jungwoo is. Jungwoo chuckles at the sight and Sicheng nudges Dejun, who stops and laughs right after snaps out of his nodding fit.

 

There’s a cheeky smile on Sicheng’s face as he eyes Jungwoo, “Let’s be classmates next semester too, Jungwoo-yah!”

 

“Alright, alright.” Jungwoo agrees despite being unaware of how that’s going to be arranged. He waves them goodbye before resuming his walk out the door.

 

Once Jungwoo’s out, the invisible rope choking on his neck loosens as his shoulders slack. There’s no point in putting up a facade now that he’s out of sight, not like he could still keep a decent front in his current state. He spots Doyoung and Jaehyun by the elevator bay deep in another one of their banters that they don’t even notice Jungwoo approaching.

 

“You guys didn’t have to come fetch me literally outside my classroom.” Jungwoo greets to catch their attention. It’s Doyoung whose face scrunches into one of concern once his eyes landed on Jungwoo’s expression. The distress on his face must’ve been evident.

 

“Your classmates think Doyoung-hyung’s still your boyfriend?” Jaehyun points out, the tone in his voice still playful. Doyoung hits him by the shoulder with a glare.

 

“Will you ever learn when to shut up?” Doyoung grits over at Jaehyun who shrugs in response. His face softens once he turns to look at Jungwoo. “Hey, are you okay?”

 

“Huh?” It’s futile to act coy and yet Jungwoo still does.

 

“You don’t seem well,” Doyoung says, his lips pursed as he does a once-over at every inch that is Jungwoo as if searching for battle scars. It’s quite humorous really, since Jungwoo went through an oral defense and an after class argument, not a combat. “Did anything happen back there?”

 

Jungwoo musters up a laugh, waving a hand dismissively before speaking, “I’m okay.”

 

They don’t seem to be convinced, but Jungwoo doesn’t let them speak another word before he zooms past them to press the elevator button—which by some miracle dings not even a second he’s pressed it down.

 

“You sure that you’re okay?” Doyoung asks one last time once they’re inside the elevator.

 

“I’m really just tired, hyung.” Jungwoo isn’t so sure who he’s trying to convince anymore at this point. His eyes were closed as he slots his chin down to the nearest surface—which was conveniently Jaehyun’s shoulder. “Can we go back to your place first? I think if I spend more than an hour awake, I’d collapse.”

 

Jaehyun clings his arm around Jungwoo’s own, taking the collapsing remark to heart, he does so throughout the whole journey back to their apartment. Exhaustion quickly inching within his whole system as the realization that he doesn’t have to stay up to work on this project anymore hits him.

 

Jungwoo doesn’t bother to change out of his jeans and t-shirt before he plants himself on Doyoung’s bed and wrapping his arms around a bolster, the last thing he recalls is someone draping a blanket over his body and the soft sound of Doyoung telling Jaehyun to shut up, so he wouldn’t wake Jungwoo up even though he hasn’t spoken since they got back.

 

Like that, Jungwoo falls asleep.

 

***

 

Jungwoo wakes up barely four hours later and keeps his eyes shut for another half-hour before giving up on sleep. Guess he’ll continue the rest of the eleven hours left some other time. Only the purple light from the LED humidifier lamp illuminates the room so Jungwoo turns the desk light on, making the vague figure of Doyoung and Jaehyun cuddling in sleep yet again from the bed on the other side of the room become evident enough.

 

 _They can’t possibly be caught in the same position every night and claim it’s unintentional._ It’s barely eight in the evening, yet they were already in bed. Jungwoo doesn’t even bother to snap a shot anymore, he could make an album with the amount of the same stolen photos he’s taken in his camera roll.

 

Jungwoo stands up to get a glass of water. That’s when he spots that there’s a lunchbox with a post-it note left on the coffee table with a _‘for jungwoo :D’_ stuck on top and beside it, a set of his pajamas and a towel folded neatly the way he likes it (sharp angles and all).

 

Doyoung’s really outdone himself in the _taking care of others_ department. Jungwoo doesn’t bother to reheat the chicken wings and digs in, it’s almost like he’s in a rush when he isn’t because it’s his first meal of the day despite the fact that it’s late enough for dinner.

 

Once Jungwoo’s done, he takes the towel and clothes and heads to the bathroom. He hasn’t showered since the night before and sweat clings to his shirt that the urge to submerge himself in a tub of water arises. He doesn’t though, because they don’t own a bathtub so the shower will have to do.

 

The night is uncharacteristically quiet, only the sound of the water spraying resonates as he stares blankly at the rivulets dripping from the white tiles of the wall. Jungwoo doesn’t have classes anymore the next day—or the next one after that. He has final exams the next week but there’s finally enough time for him to actually breathe. The heat of the shower breaks down the ache he still feels in his bones acquired from endless work hours.

 

The semester is ending and Jungwoo doesn’t know what to do after it ends.

 

Then he’s reminded of the fact that he still has to choose between Doyoung and Jaehyun or Yukhei and Qian Kun, and that Jungwoo also still doesn’t know what to do with both offers—or at least refuses to acknowledge that he can’t keep taking the train to school when his workload is certainly going to be heavier the next semester.

 

 _Stop. This isn’t the time._ He should think about that tomorrow, or after finals. Right now, Jungwoo should just rest and fill his mind with what movie he should watch at Netflix later on. Jungwoo steps out of the shower and does not think about it. He puts on the loose shirt with the white and blue gingham pajama pants, and does not think about it. He washes his face, and does not think about it.

 

Everything is going great—until Jungwoo sticks his toothbrush in his mouth and a few strokes in, he pauses— _This isn’t toothpaste._

 

Jungwoo gags, the tongue burning in the bittersweet taste of the facial cleanser. It’s cool on the surface but the sensation sticks too much no matter how much he gargles his mouth with water. Jungwoo’s out of breath once he’s done, and he just _crumbles._ Back leaning against the wall as the weight of it all slumps on his shoulders, dragging him down to the floor.

 

The last few weeks were unbearable _—stressful group mates, long commuting hours, deadlines after deadlines, unknown drunk texts, uncalled-for college drama—_ Jungwoo doesn’t even want to list anymore. The last few days, especially, have taken toll on him. Jungwoo loves both Doyoung and Jaehyun, _he truly does,_ but there isn’t enough space for him in this room. Sure, they can manage to squeeze him in but the only reason their arrangement every time he sleeps over works is because it’s temporary.

 

Jungwoo can’t keep stealing someone’s bed every night. It’s no good to share either—Doyoung and Jaehyun can keep sharing but from the moment Jungwoo’s first met the two of them, the reoccurring thought that they may actually be secretly more than friends have always been on his mind. The last Jungwoo wants is to catch his supposed roommates making out on the bed, and he really would not want that to happen.

 

They can invest in a bunk bed, but then that wouldn’t make the space any bigger for the rest of his stuff aside from the bed space. The landlord lets them have a maximum of four people in one unit, so it isn’t exactly impossible but Jungwoo liked keeping his space clean, and Doyoung and Jaehyun kept the apartment in some sort of peaceful disharmony where they know where everything is although it isn’t necessarily organized. It’s _distracting_ to Jungwoo but it’s not his place to complain when he doesn’t even pay rent.

 

The neighbors too, are really _loud_ and as much as Jungwoo loves hearing LOONA singing to take them _high high high high,_ there were also screaming and crashing sounds that Jungwoo’s almost certain there’s a wrestling tournament going on next door. They weren’t even that bad before when he’s last slept over. There’s only so much Jungwoo can take and his patience was thinning as much as the walls between each unit.

 

Then there’s Yukhei and Qian Kun’s place. The open living space had floor-to-ceiling windows, and the unit is high enough to show the view of the urban skyline. He’s been told the sunrise is particularly beautiful from there and Jungwoo has always used watching it as breathing time whenever he pulls all-nighters. There’s no certainty that they don’t have loud neighbors, but at least he gets to be disturbed in the confines of his own solo room.

 

Sure, it’s more comfortable to share a space with friends, but that doesn’t mean Jungwoo can’t learn to live with new people.

 

And Sushi—the unit comes with Sushi, the cute ball of fluff Jungwoo adores so much.

 

Jisung is right, this shouldn’t even be up for debate.

 

That doesn’t make rejecting Doyoung and Jaehyun’s offer any easier, though. It shouldn’t even be that hard, but it is— _This isn’t the time,_ Jungwoo repeats in his head hoping it would stick enough for him to stop stressing over it. If he’s going to contemplate on decisions like this, he should do it somewhere that isn’t the bathroom floor.

 

Jungwoo grimaces, hitting the back of his head on the wall, frustrated at his own indecisiveness. _This isn’t the time._ He can’t recall how his phone managed to fall on the floor in front of him, but he grabs and unlocks it hoping it would provide him an enough of a distraction. It flashes an 8:44 and his lock screen which was a photo of Obok and Jungwoo just snaps and shuts his eyes for a second. _Fuck—_

 

Everything is going great.

 

Before Jungwoo can get sucked into another internal monologue, he hovers over the message notifications on the screen, he loathes to see them, but he reads through each one anyway.

 

**jisungie^3^v**

_HYUNG!! DID U DO WELL TODAY!!! I KNOW U DID!! WE MISS U!!! AND AIRPODS GUY!!! SO EXCITED FOR U TO COME HOME!!! I MISS LEARNING!!! SEE U TOMORROW!!_

 

**lele^_^v**

_Author-nim pls upd8 this is my favorite fanfic…. Is Cute And Funny Tutor Hyung and Airpods Guy married now??_

 

**jaehyunnie-hyung^^**

_There’s food on the coffee table and pjs once u wake up. I bought your favorite from gong cha it’s in the fridge. You did great! Doyoung and i are proud of you ♡_

 

**rat’s dad from seoul subway line 2!!**

_how was your presentation today?_

 

Jungwoo presses on the fourth one which was sent two hours ago. He types, _it was fine^^_

 

He gets a reply two minutes later.

 

**rat’s dad from seoul subway line 2!!**

_im sure you did well!! rat says so too!!_

_[1 Image Attached]_

 

Yukhei sends the photo of Sushi seemingly smiling at the camera with a Slam effect. Jungwoo coos at the screen and presses on it to react with a heart.

 

 _rat is so cute!! i miss her_ _ㅠㅠㅠㅜㅠㅜㅠㅜ,_ Jungwoo types.

 

**rat’s dad from seoul subway line 2!!**

_rat misses you too!! :-((( pls visit her soon_

 

Jungwoo meant to type back a reply when the three dots started bouncing once again.

 

The message reads, _can i call? i have something to say_


	12. Chapter 12

Jungwoo’s hair is still wet when he gets out of the bathroom. Maybe he’d let the air outside dry it out as he walks. He should text Yukhei back that he can call once he’s out. Jungwoo wouldn’t want to wake up Doyoung and Jaehyun. He takes the jacket hanging on the wall hook and then—

 

“Hey Jungwoo,”  _ Shit.  _ He jolts, the jacket falling from his grip and on to the floor at the sudden call of his name. Jaehyun looks like an actual ghost with how he’s seated at the edge of the bed browsing through his phone. “Come here. Which curtains do you think are better?” Jaehyun says, showing the screen of his phone at him while swiping over his options. “This or this?”

 

“Since when did you care about curtains?” Doyoung—who was apparently also awake—mumbles from behind them on the bed where he’s laying on his stomach.

 

“Since you don’t want to help and Jungwoo might like curtains.” Jaehyun states, there’s a trace of spite in his voice. He never pegged Jaehyun to be this passionate in curtain shopping yet here they were.  Never mind that Jungwoo actually prefers double layer roller blinds—not that it mattered.

 

Jaehyun diverts his attention back to Jungwoo, wide smile on his face as he says, “We should go to IKEA! I’ve been eyeing this light bulb for months, I’m not sure if they have it now. See, I bought this bamboo lamp before but it didn’t come with a bulb. What a scam, right?”

 

“That’s sad.” Jungwoo didn’t exactly know how to entertain Jaehyun with a response. He’s heard of the tragic bamboo lamp story for the nth time already.

 

Luckily, Doyoung had more words to say, “You literally woke me up to ask about curtains. Why would you expect me to be cooperative? Get whatever you want, just don’t make me pay for it.”

 

Jaehyun’s face morphs into something of mild annoyance. Jungwoo takes this as his cue to exit the scene, he can already sense another petty argument incoming. He picks up the discarded jacket on the floor and slips it on.

 

“I’m getting plushies too. A monkey maybe—an orangutan! Maybe he would be a better roommate than you.”

 

“What?” Doyoung bursts, choosing that very moment to shoot his eyes open. As if being compared to an orangutan plushie is the worst that anyone’s ever said to him. “I make sure you eat three meals a day and this is how you thank me?”

 

“Hey!” Jaehyun exclaims when Doyoung knees his back as much as he can in his prone position. That doesn’t stop Jaehyun from escalating the silly argument. “Your  _ dakgalbi _ last night was so salty! Were you trying to kill me through sodium overdose?”

 

“You still ate all of it and even packed some for lunch!”

 

“I only ate them because you cooked it.”

 

“I thought my cooking was too salty for your taste? Pick a side.”

 

“Just put less salt next time, hyung.”

 

_ “Jungwoo, where are you going?” _ Doyoung says, taking notice of Jungwoo scrambling on the floor searching for Jaehyun’s flip-flops.

 

He’d thought he was doing a good job at being subtle, so he could slip out without question. Jungwoo finally finds the slippers, putting them on he says, “A walk. I need some air.”

 

“I’ll walk you out.” Doyoung was already up from the bed before Jungwoo can refuse. 

 

There really is no reason for Doyoung to walk Jungwoo out. The door’s barely even a few steps away since it is a studio apartment. That’s how Jungwoo can tell he just wanted to talk. It should be quick, he left the door ajar. Maybe another inquiry on why he was so down earlier.

 

“You know you don’t have to accept the room offer if you don’t want to.”  _ Or not.  _ Doyoung doesn’t even bother to linger at the topic anymore and goes straight to the point.

 

“Hyung?” Jungwoo blurts out, not comprehending where the sentiment is coming from.

 

“I know you don’t want to move in here and you just don’t know how to reject us. It’s fine.” There is no trace of cynicism in his tone, of course there won’t be, because he’s Doyoung—his Doyoung-hyung who has never been unreasonably mean to him. Doyoung-hyung who doesn’t deserve to feel this way just because of Jungwoo.

 

This is exactly what Jungwoo’s been trying to avoid. 

 

“It isn’t like that, hyung—”

 

“I’m saying this because…” Doyoung pauses, not letting Jungwoo cut him off. As if he’s rehearsed it in his head, and he’s finally able to say it out loud. “I just don’t want you to feel burdened. It’s just… I’ve noticed how hesitant you are and maybe we should have thought that you might not agree with it since you never said yes in the first place. I’m also saying it now because I don’t know when else I can say this since you’re going back home tomorrow.”

 

Doyoung looks away, eyes suddenly finding interest on the short stretch of the hallway to his left. There is a silence and Jungwoo can tell he has more to say, but he’s holding it all back. He returns his gaze back to Jungwoo, as if respecting for a response this time.

 

“It isn’t that I don’t want to live with you.” Jungwoo says, “It’s just you guys seem excited about it… I didn’t really expect it.”

 

“Why not?” Doyoung asks, but then he shakes his head. He purses his lips and winces for a split-second as if he should’ve just caught his tongue before speaking. He keeps his voice down making sure Jaehyun wouldn’t overhear, “You know Jungwoo, I’m sorry. It’s selfish that I even asked especially when I was such an asshole to you back then and—”

 

“Hyung.” _ Please. _

 

“Why did I even wonder why you would leave when I perfectly understand why. I shouldn’t have done  _ those,  _ and—”

 

_ Please stop talking.  _ Jungwoo puts both his hands on Doyoung’s shoulders, “Hyung. What are you saying? What did you even do?”

 

“Don’t act like you don’t remember.” Doyoung deadpans.

 

Jungwoo musters up the best smile he can put on his face hoping it would help ease Doyoung’s worries. 

 

“Don’t remember what? You were  _ so nice  _ to me back then. Please never think that way. You know you’re the best roommate I ever had, hyung.”

 

Doyoung blinks, once, twice, just observing Jungwoo’s face, then he sags his shoulders down and relaxes.

 

“I’m the only roommate you ever had.” Doyoung rolls his eyes, scoffing lightheartedly before grinning wide enough for his gums to show.

 

Jungwoo steps forward and slides his hands that were resting on Doyoung’s shoulders to engulf him in a hug instead.

 

“Oh?” Doyoung’s voice perks up.

 

Jungwoo shrugs, hand tapping on Doyoung’s back, “Just felt like it, hyung. Thank you for letting me stay here all the time.”

 

“I always want what’s best for you, Jungwoo-yah.”

 

Jungwoo closes his eyes, his heart’s dropped to his stomach and his mind’s drifting off to when they were still living together. When Jungwoo was Doyoung’s roommate and not Jaehyun. If Jungwoo had actually stayed instead, things would definitely be different. Jungwoo tries to push all of Doyoung’s words at the back of his head, even if he’s aware that he’ll think of this again later in the night before going to sleep, on Doyoung’s bed.  _ How appropriate.  _

 

Sometimes, Jungwoo wonders how someone like Doyoung can exist, because Doyoung is so nice. He’s like a hyung Jungwoo never had. It’s not supposed to— 

 

“Jungwoo-hyung?”

 

Jungwoo opens his eyes and—“Renjun? Yukhei?”

 

Doyoung lets go, but keeps a lazy arm over Jungwoo’s shoulders. Renjun and Yukhei were standing only a few steps away from them, right next to the door of the apartment next to theirs which is open. Renjun had his brows furrowed, squinting as if making sure he’s seen him right even though he already called their names out. Yukhei was just looking at him, expressionless. 

 

There’s another guy. Said guy turns to Renjun, “You know Cu—” 

 

“What are you so loud for, Jeno-yah?” Renjun pushes said guy—Jeno back inside the unit, not so gently if the sound of falling objects is any indication. 

 

Doyoung whispers,  _ “You’re friends with the loud freshmen next door?” _

 

There is shouting, familiar ones, it’s the voices he’s heard the past few nights before Doyoung would kick the wall to tell them off. Yukhei isn’t looking at him anymore, instead he’s peeking inside the unit where Renjun is possibly wrestling with Jeno.

 

Jungwoo’s quite not sure what’s happening anymore. He says, “I didn’t know?”

 

“Hey, Jungwoo-hyung.” Renjun beams, once he’s stepped back to the hallway. His smile is too big to be natural. It’s almost like a signature look for him to somehow look like he’s always in an awkward position. The first and last he’s seen him he was holding a watermelon, now he shoved someone to the door—who walks back out again, unfazed by the fact that he just got rammed mid-talk.

 

Jungwoo asks, “You live next door?”

 

“Yeah,” Renjun nods. He tugs on Jeno’s shirtsleeve and pulls him forward as if he’s a rag doll. “This is Jeno, by the way.”

 

“Hi, I’m Jeno!” he waves, eyes disappearing with how wide his grin is.

 

“This is Doyoung-hyung. He’s your neighbor.” There’s a polite smile on Doyoung’s face. A stark contrast to the number of times he’s scowling and muttering how much he hates the loud freshmen next door.

 

“So you lot are the ones who’ve been playing music on full blast on the daily, huh?”

 

Renjun laughs bashfully, “That was Donghyuck.”

 

“Hey! Why did I hear my name?” someone shouts from inside, loud footsteps getting closer until an orange-haired guy—Donghyuck emerges from the door. He takes a glance at them and—“Oh!” 

 

“What’s going on here? I heard screaming.” Jaehyun pokes his head out the door, eyes scanning the scene until he stops at—“Oh, Jaeminnie.”

 

There is yet again another person whose head was poking out the door too—It’s Nana, the same guy who was sitting down the hallway with Jungwoo the other day.

 

“Hello, Jaehyun-hyung! Doyoung-hyung!” The tone in his voice makes Jungwoo wonder just how much positive energy does their room even contain for all of them to be in such a cheerful disposition.

 

It’s  _ comical,  _ and no one is even talking at the moment but the situation they’re in looks so loud and this is the most people Jungwoo’s ever seen in the hallway. It’s almost like some opening scene in a sitcom with how they stepped out one by one waiting to be introduced.

 

Doyoung detaches his arm from Jungwoo’s shoulders to lean in to Jaehyun and whisper, “How does he know my name?”

 

“He helped me do laundry at the laundromat downstairs before.” Jaehyun says, not bothering to whisper at all. “I cooked for him and gave them food. None of our neighbors know how to cook apparently.”

 

Donghyuck whispers something to himself but Jungwoo was able to catch it,  _ “The only person who can’t cook here is Jeno.” _

 

“We have a washing machine here at the apartment.” Doyoung points out, his brows are furrowed this time. “And these days, almost never cook too! You always make me do it and you have the time to cook for our neighbors?”

 

“I don’t know how to use it. School is draining, I have no energy to cook. Besides, your cooking is great, hyung. Gordon Ramsay-hyung could never.” Jaehyun sends a thumbs up over to Doyoung, who is slack-jawed at his audacity. It’s ironic, because minutes ago he was accusing Doyoung of poisoning him, but now here he is gassing up the non-existent Michelin stars their kitchenette has.

 

“And I don’t go to school? I don’t get tired?” Doyoung glares at Jaehyun, “You don’t know how to use the coin laundry downstairs either. We’ve been living together for a year and the one time you had to do laundry on your own, you couldn’t have bothered to ask me for help or just look it up online. Are you dumb?”

 

Gone was the playful smile Jaehyun had on his face, “You know you’re too much sometimes and I’m sick of it. Ah, I can’t wait for Jungwoo to move in here, so I never have to talk to you. I can ask him for help, and he’ll never call me dumb!”

 

“If you’re so sick of me then maybe you should move out?”

 

This has turned into a full straight-on quarrel and the rest of them were just watching it unfold like a scene from a drama. The hallway has never been this chaotic before. All Jungwoo wanted was to take a walk outside and maybe call Yukhei.

 

Right, Yukhei was here.

 

Jungwoo had almost forgotten Yukhei is here. Doyoung and Jaehyun are arguing, while the Renjun and his roommates were looking amongst themselves as if they’re in some telepathic conversation. Yukhei is just standing there, observing without a word. Jungwoo’s always seen him like some beacon of light, presence so loud he could discern him within the sea of people sardined during rush hour. He looks uncharacteristically out of place, mindlessly hovering his eyes over the length of the hallway as if it’s some showcase.

 

Jungwoo takes a step forward, just that single move leads Yukhei to focus his attention on him. There’s still no expression on Yukhei’s face, and Jungwoo doesn’t know what to say. His mind’s still blank even when they’re already face to face.

 

“Yukhei.”

 

“Jungwoo.”

 

“Yukhei,” Jungwoo repeats, “What are you doing here?”

 

_ Of course,  _ give it to Jungwoo to ask questions that don’t make sense.

 

“Well,” Yukhei pauses, pursing his lips and nodding his head slowly. “I was with Renjun and his roommates here.”

 

“You said you would call.”

 

“I asked but you haven’t replied.”

 

“Yeah,” Jungwoo drawls out, then quickly adding, “Well, you can call.”

 

Give it also to Jungwoo to also say things that don’t make sense.  _ He can’t call, you’re literally talking to him right now.  _ Jungwoo bites back his lips as a last resort word filter.

 

There’s a certain aura in Yukhei that says now may not be a good time. He hasn’t shown even a sliver of emotion since he’s seen him—almost cold, but then Yukhei laughs, and the doubt dissipates just as quick it appeared. 

 

He makes the call sign with a single hand, “Should I call right now?”

 

Jungwoo laughs as well. _ It’s a relief.  _ Yukhei actually pulls his phone out and shows the screen of his contact where his photo is saved with a candid of him and Sushi playing. He presses on call and Jungwoo’s phone vibrates in the pocket of his jacket. They don’t stop laughing.

 

_ “Jungwoo, isn’t he your Sushi’s owner?”  _ Doyoung asks, presumably done fighting with Jaehyun.

 

Jungwoo doesn’t even bother to look away from Yukhei. He nods as he says, “We’re going out.”

 

There is a gasp somewhere from the four, breaking their mind reading session. That’s when Jungwoo turns his attention to Doyoung, whose eyes were wide much like everyone else, except Jaehyun who was only looking at Doyoung who speaks, “You’re going out with him?” 

 

There’s a subtle raise in his voice, subtle, but it was there. It’s only then that Jungwoo realizes the implication of what he just said, “Not going out  _ going out… _ just going out.” Jungwoo sputters out, the redundancy was an abomination yet there was no better way to put it.

 

Yukhei, unaware of their one-sided plans, nudges Jungwoo, “We are?”

 

“You said you were going out for a walk.” Doyoung says.

 

“Yeah…” Jungwoo drawls out, nodding. He isn’t quite so sure how to explain this one. “Going out for a walk with Yukhei.”

 

Doyoung nods, then breathes out a sigh, “Stay safe, Jungwoo. Don’t stay out too late.”

 

“Jungwoo gets it, hyung. Stop being such an overprotective boyfriend. It’s a walk. They’re going out for a walk. Only a walk. Have fun, Jungwoo!” Jaehyun smiles at him while simultaneously pushing an unwilling Doyoung back inside the unit. “I’ll cook you dinner, you should watch me do it since you want me to feed you so bad.”

 

“I do not want—” Jaehyun drags Doyoung by the arm and shuts the door before he can finish his protest.

 

Renjun nudges Yukhei, “You can go walk with Jungwoo-hyung downstairs so Jeno and I can just stay here. Enjoy the walk!”

 

“But weren’t we supposed to buy fried chicken for dinner?” Jeno asks.  _ “Winner winner chicken—” _

 

“We’ll have them delivered.” Renjun states, cutting him off, he wounds both his arms over the shoulders of the other two and steers them inside the unit. Jeno follows. Once inside, Renjun waves before shutting the door, “Bye!”

 

There they are again, left alone in the silence so abruptly. Yukhei’s face is blank once again, he isn’t even looking at Jungwoo anymore. With the absence of sound, his mind streams out with ways on how to go from here. What should they do now? Is this the part where they start walking? Yet both of them had their feet cemented to the ground, even Jungwoo’s only looking down at the floor. There is nothing of importance to look at there, it’s only his toes.

 

The quiet chokes on Jungwoo’s neck, the only way to breathe again is if he talks. “What did you want to say?”

 

Yukhei stills, then swings a single leg back and forth by the ball of his foot. Still avoiding eye contact. He shrugs, “I don’t really remember. Just wanted to ask you about your day is all.”

 

Both his sentences were contradicting, but Jungwoo pays no heed to it.

 

“I do.”

 

He doesn’t.

 

That prompts Yukhei to look back at him, “What?”

 

At least not yet.

 

“I have something to say.” 

 

What should he even say? _ I’m taking the room. Sorry it took so long, I was conflicted, didn’t know how to reject my closest friends and also thought it would be weird since I do have a small, tiny crush on you. _

 

“What do you want to say?”

 

But maybe that’s exactly how he should approach it.

 

“The good luck hug worked.”

 

_ Fuck it. _

 

Yukhei laughs, “Congrats.”

 

There’s a small spark somewhere, blooming in his chest,  _ something  _ he’s not quite sure what is yet. Jungwoo is calculative, he goes by a daily routine and sticks to it on the clock. He sees the probability in each action before doing them because it’s easier that way. Giving in to impulse actions lead to consequences he may not be sure of.

 

Yet despite that, he still ran when he first saw Airpods Guy at the back of a group photo even when he’s already boarded the train back home. He also left his shared dorm room with Doyoung in a whim. There are just some things that can’t be solved with going over it a thousand times because he’s aware that no amount of overthinking can make him choose anything else.

 

Split-second decisions are no good, especially when he still isn’t done thinking of what may be the outcome. Maybe it’s just because Jungwoo’s a little too dazed by Yukhei, but  _ maybe _ this time, it’ll be alright.

 

“I’m taking the room. Sorry it took so long.” Jungwoo starts. His voice doesn’t falter, though his nails were digging in the skin of his palm. It comes out calmer than he expected, as it should. This isn’t some romance movie.  _ It’s only accepting a room offer, not a proposal. _

 

Potentially, a confession.

 

“What?” There’s only genuine confusion laced in his Yukhei’s voice as he says it. Should he continue the rest of the paragraph he’s written at the back of his mind? Yukhei adds, “Didn’t your friend just mention that you were moving in with them?”

 

“I was conflicted I didn’t know how to reject my friends and also thought—”  _ it would be weird since I do have a small, tiny crush on you.  _ “—I wanted my own room anyway. This place is too small.”

 

Potentially, a confession—or not.  _ This isn’t the time.  _ Jungwoo isn’t that reckless yet.

 

“And you seem fun.” Jungwoo adds, “You and Kun—Qian Kun-hyung. You guys seem fun.”

 

Jungwoo watches as Yukhei’s face morphs from a blank face to a suppressed smile, then having his eyes crinkle with how wide his grin is. It’s a warm one, maybe that’s why Jungwoo melts at the sight of it.

 

“You think so too, right? We three would get along! This is really lucky. Kun-hyung was just about ready to give up on looking after you. You should’ve seen him pouting when he asked for an update and I said you haven’t decided yet.”

 

“Cute.”

 

_ Fuck. _

 

Jungwoo has never bitten back his tongue as fast as he had right at that moment. There isn’t a cute puppy within vicinity. There is nothing cute about the standard laminate flooring and plain white walls of the hallway. What else could Jungwoo be calling cute but… him? 

 

Jungwoo feels the blood crawl up to his face, maybe his cheeks were burning. Jungwoo wouldn’t know, he’s too busy thinking of ways to make himself shut up for not being able to resist to call Yukhei cute.

 

“Right? Kun-hyung is really cute when he pouts! Sometimes I forget he’s older than me when he does.” Yukhei speaks, with a small laugh, and Jungwoo loosens the grip on both his tongue and hands. Yukhei stretches his hand out, “Let’s go?”

 

“Let’s go.” Jungwoo doesn’t even question it, he just takes the hand. When Yukhei starts running, Jungwoo keeps up with the pace.

 

“My parent’s driver is actually parked downstairs with Rat. She misses you terribly,” They stop at the elevator bay and Yukhei presses down. They both forget to let go of each other’s hands. “She won’t have to miss you anymore soon though since you two will be housemates.”

 

It hasn’t sunk in that Yukhei isn’t some obscure figure in his daily commute anymore. Not another familiar face he passes by cataloged in his head. That they’re friends, and he’s going to be living with two people who he barely even knew yet (and of course, a puppy).

 

“She thinks her name is Sushi, though.” Jungwoo teases, laughing a little.

 

Yukhei hisses, “That’s my nickname!”

 

Jungwoo laughs a little louder, and Yukhei does too. It’s not awkward this time. When the elevator dings, their fingers interlace just as a thought pops up in his mind. It’s a silly,  _ cheesy even, _ but it makes something flutter in Jungwoo’s chest nonetheless.

 

The guy who blasts Justin Bieber way too loud in his Airpods and occasionally picks his nose in his morning commute  _ was  _ just another face to Kim Jungwoo—but not anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaaaaand thats the end... of the arc. shoulda been shorter but there it is. sorry its a bit... eh. idk i cringed while writing this but i have no energy to edit anymore (pls do tell me if there are any typos hehe). i know i keep talking abt an interlude but im not sure if it'll be the next?? i mean after this is just a short time skip (heads up!), and the interlude is five (5) short scenes from the other characters (winwin, jaehyun, johnny, renjun, chenle) within the timeframe of that time skip lol guess yall would know what comes next once i update again hehe
> 
> honestly i have half the mind to just mark this completed, but barely anything has happened yet so i'll have to continue erihgeoihg
> 
> LET'S SUPPORT WAYV'S DEBUT! follow their twitter [@WayV_official](https://twitter.com/wayv_official) subscribe to their [youtube channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-ZHt5Zgadfx-B1CM63Lqew) and stream all the teasers !!!!! they'll release their ep on the 17th 7pm, beijing time (8pm kst) check fanbases to see what we can do to support them as much as we can!!
> 
> my recently followed accs [here](https://twitter.com/jwooluvbot) are also some wayv update accs!!! talk to me too i guess

**Author's Note:**

> hello~ i haven't written a fic in like 2 years but luwoo makes me want to write again so here we are!!! i mostly write sad angsty dramatic fics lmao but this time i want to make this as fluffy and not sad as possible so idk if i can pull that off but i'll try oiwehoiwehr anw im on twitter! my main isn’t an nct fanacc but here's my [twitter](https://twitter.com/bazourexo) then there's my jwoo/nct acc on [here](https://twitter.com/jwooluvbot) hehe i need more nct friends so just give me a mention and lets talk there hehe!!


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